ROLAND     D.     HUSSEY 
U.     C.     L.    A. 


FRO/*\  HWR 


AVG    21-  1013 


■ 


7 

Qi;      j/ 


HISTORY  OF 

MEDIEVAL  AND  OF 
MODERN  CIVILIZATION 


BOOKS    BY    CHARLES    SEIGNOBOS 

Translated  and  edited  under  the  direction  of 
James  Alton  James,  Ph.D. 

Published  by  CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


History  of  Ancient  Civilization    .    .    .  net  $1.25 

History  of  Mediaeval  and  Modern  Civil- 
ization       net  $1.25 

History  of  Contemporary  Civilization  .  net  $1.25 


HISTORY   OF 

MEDIEVAL  AND  OF 
MODERN  CIVILIZATION 

TO    THE    END    OF    THE 
SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 


BY 

CHARLES    SEIGNOBOS 

Doctor  of  Letters  of  the  University  of  Paris 


TRANSLATION  EDITED  BY 
JAMES    ALTON    JAMES,    Ph.D. 

Professor  of  History,  Northwestern  University 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 

1909 


Copyright,  1907,  by 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


■■"6  M 

ersity  of  c,\ 
santa  Barbara" 


UNIVERSIT        F  CALIFORNIA 


33^7 

(%'7 


EDITOR'S    PREFACE 

In  conformity  with  the  plan  adopted  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  Ancient  Civilization,  for  American  readers, 
material  from  both  the  three-volume  and  the  two- 
volume  editions  of  Professor  Seignobos's  "  Histoire 
de  la  Civilisation  "  has  been  used.  Some  omissions 
have  also  been  made. 

This  volume,  like  the  rest  of  the  author's  works,  has 
the  charm  of  graphic  presentation.  The  chapters  on 
French  history  and  those  which  have  to  do  with  social 
conditions  are  especially  noteworthy.  Some  correc- 
tions have  been  made  in  foot-notes  and  a  few  slight 
changes  have  been  made  in  the  body  of  the  text  with- 
out calling  attention  thereto.  The  editorial  notes  and 
corrections  are  confined  largely  to  the  material  on 
American  history. 

I  am  under  obligation  to  my  colleague,  Arthur  H. 
Wilde,  Professor  of  History,  for  the  translation  of, 
and  notes  on,  the  first  five  chapters  of  this  volume. 
The  rest  of  the  volume  was  translated  by  Miss  Mar- 
garet Richie  Wiseman,  Professor  of  French  in  Hardin 
College,  Missouri.  I  am  likewise  indebted  to  my  col- 
leagues in  the  Department  of  History,  Dr.  Royal  B. 
Way  and  Dr.  Arthur  G.  Terry,  for  their  critical  read- 
ing of  a  large  part  of  the  manuscript. 


vi  EDITOR'S    PREFACE 

A  general  bibliography  of  works  in  the  English 
language  applicable  to  the  subjects  discussed  is  to  be 
found  in  the  appendix.  Professor  Seignobos  used 
French  and  German  authorities  almost  exclusively. 

James  Alton  James. 

Evanston,  Illinois,  July  i,  1907. 


AUTHOR'S    PREFACE 

This  volume  has  consumed  more  time  and  energy 
than  the  first.  There  was  no  longer  the  problem  of  a 
simple,  concise  civilization,  concentrated  in  a  few  points 
as  that  of  antiquity;  it  was  a  varied  civilization  and 
more  and  more  complex,  which  it  was  necessary  to 
follow  throughout  the  whole  of  Europe,  taking  into 
consideration  the  different  characteristics  which  it 
assumed  in  each  country. 

For  this  more  difficult  task  I  found  the  material  less 
accessible.  Modern  civilization  has  never  been  studied 
so  methodically  as  ancient  civilization;  no  one  has  yet 
given  a  complete  account  which  may  be  relied  upon; 
no  one  has  collected  the  results  of  historical  research. 
I  have  been  compelled  to  read  a  large  number  of  vol- 
umes in  order  to  collect  the  facts  which  I  have  needed. 
At  times  it  has  been  necessary  to  carry  out  a  special 
investigation.  It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  this  work 
has  consumed  considerable  time. 

I  have  not  given  a  history  of  events;  I  have  been 
content  in  briefly  recalling  the  event  when  it  was  con- 
nected with  the  movement  of  civilization. 

This  volume,  as  the  first,  includes  two  different  fea- 
tures :  selected  topics  of  a  nature  to  make  the  customs 
of  each  society  clear,  and  explanations  intended  to 
make  it  understood  how  these  customs  were  formed, 


viii  AUTHOR'S    PREFACE 

modified  and  scattered.  But  between  these  two  ele- 
ments the  proportion  has  not  continued  the  same  as  in 
the  first  volume.  As  civilization  became  more  complex 
it  was  necessary  to  give  a  larger  place  to  explanations. 
I  shall  refrain  from  protesting  my  impartiality;  I 
believe  I  have  used  in  the  preparation  of  this  history  a 
mind  sufficiently  scientific  not  to  merit  in  this  respect 
any  criticism. 


jK(I  ^a 


\W.  I 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER   I 

PAGE 

The  Germanic  Invasion       ......       3 

CHAPTER   II 
The  Germans  and  Christianity    .  .  .  .  .16 

CHAPTER    III 
The  Byzantine  Empire         .  .  .  .  .  .27 

CHAPTER   IV 
Mohammedanism  ........     39 

CHAPTER   V 
Government  of  the  Barbarian  Kings  .  .  .47 

CHAPTER   VI 
The  Feudal  System     .......     63 

CHAPTER   VII 
The  Church  in  the  Middle  Ages         .         .         .         .86 

CHAPTER   VIII 
Oriental  Civilization  in  the  West     .  .  .  .110 

CHAPTER    IX 
Progress  op  Royalty  .         .         .         .         .  .120 


x  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   X 

PAGE 

Development  of  Political  Liberty     .  .  .   140 

CHAPTER    XI 
The  Institutions  of  England  in  the  Middle  Ages     .   147 

CHAPTER   XII 
Founding  of  German  States        .....   160 

CHAPTER   XIII 
Cities  of  the  Middle  Ages  .....   164 

CHAPTER   XIV 
Royal  Authority  in  France         .....   173 

CHAPTER   XV 
The  End  of  the  Middle  Ages     .....   192 

CHAPTER   XVI 
Establishment  of  Absolute  Power  in  Europe   .  .211 

CHAPTER   XVII 

Modern  Times — Inventions  and  Discoveries        .  .   235 

CHAPTER    XVIII 

Struggle  between  the  Houses  of  France  and  Austria  253 

CHAPTER   XIX 
The  Renaissance  .......  268 

CHAPTER   XX 
The  Reformation  .......   283 


CONTENTS  xi 

CHAPTER   XXI 

PAGE 

The  Counter-Reformation  ......  305 

CHAPTER   XXII 
Philip  II.,  Elizabeth,  Henry  IV.  ....  324 

CHAPTER   XXIII 
Absolute  Monarchy    .......  345 

CHAPTER   XXIV 
International  Relations    ......  369 

CHAPTER   XXV 

Formation  of  the  English  Constitution  in  the  Seven- 
teenth and  Eighteenth  Centuries        .  .  .  387 

CHAPTER   XXVI 
France  in  the  Seventeenth  Century  .         .         .  406 

APPENDIX 435 


MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 


CHAPTER   I 
THE   GERMANIC   INVASION 

Wars  with  the  Germans — Beyond  the  Rhine  and  the 
Danube,  in  the  country  now  known  as  Germany,  lived 
peoples  who  were  still  barbarians,  called  by  the  Romans 
"  Germans."  Like  the  Hindoos,  the  Persians,  Greeks, 
and  Romans,  they  were  peoples  of  Aryan  race,  once 
dwelling  in  Asia,  a  race  of  shepherds,  later  becoming 
peasants  and  warriors.  They  were  divided  into  about 
forty  tribes,  which  governed  themselves  independently 
and  often  made  war  on  one  another.  When  the  Ger- 
mans of  the  frontier  found  themselves  confronted  by 
the  Roman  armies  (which  came  to  pass  in  the  second 
century)  they  engaged  in  war  with  them.  This  was 
the  beginning  of  that  long  series  of  petty  frontier 
wars  that  were  interrupted  by  treaties  of  peace.  Great 
battles  were  few,  invasions  were  many,  villages  were 
burned  and  their  inhabitants  led  into  captivity.  At 
remote  intervals  a  great  massacre  would  occur. 

In  9  a.d.  three  Roman  legions  commanded  by  Varus, 

trapped  in  the  marshes  and  the  forests  of  the  Teuto- 

burgerwald,  were  slain  to  the  last  man.1     But  most 

1  It  has  often  been  said,  especially  in  Germany,  that  this  was 
a  national  uprising  of  Germans  against  Romans;  the  victorious 
chief,  Arminius,  has  been  called  the  liberator  of  Germany  and 
statues  have  been  raised  to  him.  But  Arminius  was  the  leader 
of  a  single  tribe,  the  Cherusci.  For  the  rest,  what  had  aroused 
this  people  was,  in  reality,  the  Roman  laws  which  Varus  tried  to 
impose  upon  them.  It  is  related  that  the  barbarian  warriors, 
having  taken  prisoner  one  of  the  Roman  lawyers  in  the  escort  of 
Varus,  had  cut  out  his  tongue,  saying  to  him,  "Hiss  now,  you 
viper."  , 


4  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

often  the  Romans,  better  armed  and  disciplined,  dis- 
persed the  barbarians,  made  them  prisoners  and  sold 
them  as  slaves.  Even  in  the  fourth  century  the  advan- 
tage lay  ordinarily  on  the  side  of  the  Romans.  A 
Roman  officer,  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  who  served 
against  the  barbarians,  makes  this  remark  in  referring 
to  the  battle  of  Strasburg :  "  The  barbarians  excelled 
in  size  and  muscular  force,  our  men  in  tactics  and  dis- 
cipline; the  latter  relied  on  intelligence,  the  former  on 
brute  force." 

The  Germanic  Peoples — Unlike  the  Greeks  and 
Romans,  the  Germans  had  no  strong  cities  inhabited 
by  nobles,  nor  did  they  care  to  have  any.  "  They 
refuse  to  live  in  cities  which  they  regard  as  tombs 
where  everything  is  buried  alive,"  says  a  Roman* 
writer.  They  lived  either  in  isolated  houses  or  in 
villages  surrounded  by  a  stockade.  Each  family  had 
its  house,  its  field  and  its  meadow;  the  woods,  the 
pasture-lands  and  the  streams  were  the  common  prop- 
erty of  the  whole  village.  The  villages  of  the  same 
part  of  the  country  formed  a  single  tribe.  Each  tribe 
had  its  judicial  assemblies  to  adjust  quarrels  and  its 
general  assemblies  for  the  regulation  of  state  matters. 
At  these  assemblies  the  men  were  present  under  arms, 
for  among  the  Germans  every  citizen  was  a  warrior 
and  the  whole  people  an  army. 

When  the  number  of  the  inhabitants  increased  and 
more  land  was  needed  to  sustain  them,  a  part  of  the 
people,  sometimes  the  whole  people,  started  on  a  migra- 
tion with  women  and  children,  with  movable  goods 
transported  on  carts,  in  search  of  a  new  home.  Often 
they  came  to  the  Roman  frontier  and  demanded  lands, 


THE    GERMANIC    INVASION  5 

determined  to  take  them  forcibly,  for  they  always 
marched  under  arms.  More  than  one  Germanic  people 
in  such  a  migration  was  overwhelmed  by  the  Roman 
armies.  In  the  year  269  three  hundred  thousand  Goths 
had  passed  the  Danube  with  wives  and  children ;  a  long 
convoy  of  carts  brought  up  the  rear.  The  Emperor 
Claudius  attacked  them  with  a  small  army,  fighting 
one  great  battle  and  frequent  winter  skirmishes  in  the 
Balkans.  At  the  end  of  the  campaign  the  Gothic  army 
was  wiped  out,  the  men  had  been  killed,  the  women 
reduced  to  slavery.  And  yet  more  than  one  people 
succeeded  in  establishing  themselves  in  the  empire. 

The  Comitatus — The  greater  part  of  the  German 
warriors  thought  only  of  fighting.  "  Whenever  they 
are  not  at  war,"  says  Tacitus,  "they  spend  the  time  in 
hunting,  or  rather  in  doing  nothing  but  eating  and 
sleeping.  The  bravest  and  the  most  warlike  of  them 
do  nothing  at  all ;  they  leave  the  care  of  their  house 
and  their  fields  to  their  wives,  to  the  old  men,  and  to  the 
weak ;  they  themselves  live  in  the  most  stupid  fashion." 
There  were  in  every  people  many  of  these  warriors  by 
profession.  They  united  themselves  to  a  noble  chief  or 
one  renowned  for  fighting  and  swore  to  be  faithful  to 
him.  And  so  there  was  formed  a  band  (comitatus)  of 
companions  devoted  to  a  chief,  who  lived  at  his  house, 
ate  at  his  table,  surrounded  him  in  battle  and  died  in 
his  defence.  War  was  necessary  to  these  men — to  the 
companions  to  withdraw  them  from  this  life  of  ban- 
quets and  idleness,  and  to  the  chief  to  provide  enter- 
tainment for  his  men.  When  a  people  was  at  peace 
its  bands  of  warriors  went  away  with  their  chiefs  to 
fight  in  the  army  of  any  other  people,  or  even  to  make 


6  MEDLEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

war  on  their  own  account.  The  empire  especially 
attracted  them;  some  of  them  applied  themselves  to 
the  desolation  of  the  provinces  of  the  frontier,  while 
others  entered  the  service  of  the  empire  against  the 
invading  Germans.  Sometimes  they  returned  to  enjoy 
their  pay  or  their  booty,  but  many  had  a  taste  of  the 
life  of  adventure  and  never  returned. 

The  Confederations — This  mode  of  life,  at  length, 
exhausted  all  the  tribes  of  the  frontier.  At  the  end  of 
three  centuries  there  remained  only  wandering  bands 
and  debris  of  peoples.  Then  in  the  third  century  ap- 
peared confederations  under  new  names  which  are  not 
the  names  of  peoples.  There  were  three  of  these :  ( i ) 
the  Alemannians,  in  the  triangle  formed  by  the  Rhine 
and  the  Danube;  (2)  the  Franks,  on  the  lower  Rhine 
down  to  its  mouth;  (3)  the  Saxons,  along  the  North 
Sea  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Elbe.  These  great 
confederations  were  not  states.  Each  of  the  little 
groups  that  formed  a  confederation  had  a  chief  who 
bore  the  title  of  king  and  who  usually  made  war  accord- 
ing to  his  own  will. 

THE  ROMAN  WORLD  AT  THE  END  OF 
THE  FOURTH  CENTURY 

The  Treasury. — The  Romans  had  always  exacted  a 
large  amount  of  money  from  their  subjects.  The 
emperors  of  the  fourth  century  who  had  to  entertain, 
besides  their  large  army,  an  expensive  court  and  a 
numerous  body  of  officials,  required  yet  more  treasure. 

The  two  heaviest  imposts  were:  (1)  the  tax  on 
land,  paid  by  the  proprietors  every  year,  and  (2)  the 


THE    GERMANIC    INVASION  7 

tax  on  industry  (chrysargyron),  which  was  collected 
every  five  years.  The  proceeds  of  these  levies  fell  to 
the  fiscus,  the  imperial  treasury.  In  the  fourth  century, 
perhaps  on  account  of  the  civil  wars  and  the  invasions 
of  the  barbarians,  the  population  found  it  much  more 
difficult  to  pay  the  imposts,  and  the  agents  of  the  fiscus 
had  to  use  force  to  collect  the  tax.  "When  the  time  of 
the  lustral  levy  (the  tax  on  industry)  returns,"  says  a 
writer  of  the  time,  "there  are  lamentations  and  cries 
throughout  the  city ;  those  who  are  too  poor  to  pay  are 
afflicted  with  blows  and  ill-treatment;  mothers  sell 
their  children  to  satisfy  the  tax-gatherers."  Often 
debtors  were  put  to  torture.  Constantine  prohibited 
torture,  but  he  ordered  them  to  be  cast  into  prison. 
Under  this  oppressive  regime  artisans  and  small  pro- 
prietors were  ruined  and  disappeared. 

The  Curials — The  Romans  did  not  give  themselves 
the  unpleasant  task  of  collecting  the  money  of  their 
subjects.  The  emperor  contented  himself  with  indi- 
cating (ordinarily  every  five  years)  the  amount  of  tax 
that  every  province  ought  to  pay,  and  this  he  fixed 
arbitrarily.  The  governor  informed  each  city  of  the 
amount  that  it  had  to  pay.  It  was  the  government  of 
the  city,  that  is  to  say,  the  curia,  that  was  to  furnish 
the  required  sum.  As  long  as  the  city  remained  rich 
the  curia,  in  levying  the  tax,  had  only  to  distribute  it 
over  the  inhabitants.  But  if  the  inhabitants  were  unable 
to  pay.  the  members  of  the  curia  had  it  to  pay  them- 
selves, for  they  were  responsible  for  the  tax,  and  the 
fiscus  never  renounced  its  claims. 

The  function  of  a  curial  had  up  to  this  time  been 
prized  as  an  honor;  a  curial  in  his  own  city  was  like 


8  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

a  senator  at  Rome.  But  the  office  came  to  be  regarded 
as  an  intolerable  burden  and  no  one  wished  any  longer 
to  hold  it.  The  emperors  published  decrees  against 
those  who  refused,  and  men  were  made  curials  by 
force.  Whoever  possessed  twenty-five  jugera  of  land 
became,  voluntarily  or  involuntarily,  a  member  of  the 
curia.  Many  curials  preferred  to  surrender  their 
land;  they  fled,  became  priests,  monks,  officials,  or 
soldiers.  The  emperors  ordered  them  to  be  found  and 
to  be  returned  by  force  to  their  city.  According  to  one 
law,  "They  are  the  slaves  of  the  state*" 

The  government  thus  attempted  to  conserve  the 
senates  of  the  cities,  but  as  it  ruined  them  by  its  imposts 
the  curials  continued  to  diminish  in  number.  During 
the  early  empire  a  senate  was  ordinarily  composed  of 
ioo  members;  at  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century, 
riots  having  occurred  in  one  of  the  provinces,  an 
emperor  decreed  that  the  heads  of  three  curials  of 
each  city  should  be  brought  to  him;  the  governor 
replied  to  him :  "May  it  please  your  Clemency  to 
direct  what  shall  be  done  when  there  are  not  three 
curials     .     .     ." 

Depopulation  of  the  Empire — Then  occurred  in  the 
empire  what  had  taken  place  in  all  the  ancient  states — 
in  Sparta,  in  Greece,1  and  in  Italy :  the  population 
diminished  and  the  free  men  disappeared,  their  places 
being  filled  with  slaves.  The  body  of  Roman  citizens, 
it  is  true,  did  not  decline ;  indeed,  it  was  always  on  the 
increase.  In  the  first  century  there  were  already  more 
than  a  million  of  citizens;  in  the  third  century  (212) 

1  Plutarch  declares  in  the  second  century,  "All  Greece  could 
not  furnish  3,000  hoplites,  the  number  which  the  single  city  of 
Megara  sent  to  Plataea. 


THE    GERMANIC    INVASION  9 

an  imperial  edict  bestowed  the  right  of  Roman  citizen- 
ship on  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  empire.1  Roman 
citizens  were  then  counted  by  the  millions.  The  citizen- 
ship was  being  conserved  at  the  expense  of  the  rest  of 
the  world.  But  the  Roman  regime  devoured  little  by 
little  the  peoples  of  the  empire  as  it  had  those  of  Italy. 
Too  many  soldiers,  and  especially  too  many  slaves, 
were  required.  Then  it  favored  the  rich  in  too  great 
degree ;  the  small  proprietors  could  not  maintain  them- 
selves in  competition  with  the  great,  and  so  they 
became  soldiers  or  were  ruined.  The  great  land-owner 
acquired  their  farms.  At  length  there  was  nothing 
left  in  the  country  but  large  estates  cultivated  by 
slaves.  Furthermore,  this  population  of  slaves  was 
not  renewed ;  and  when  one  of  the  great  calamities  so 
common  then,  an  epidemic,  a  war,  or  an  invasion  of 
barbarians,  had  destroyed  the  cultivators  of  a  domain 
the  soil  remained  without  inhabitants.  Gradually, 
especially  on  the  frontiers,  the  fields  became  destitute 
of  men ;  people  were  to  be  found  only  in  the  cities.  In 
many  districts  veritable  deserts  were  formed.  To  re- 
people  the  country  the  emperors  settled  their  bands  of 
barbarians  whom  they  had  conquered  and  made  pris- 
oners. These  barbarians  were  not  proprietors  of  the 
soil,  but  were  only  serfs ;  like  the  helots  of  Sparta,  they 
were  attached  to  an  estate  which  neither  they  nor  their 
children  could  leave,  and  they  paid  rent  to  the  owner; 
they  were  peasants  destined  to  remain  so  forever  and 

1  From  this  time  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  empire  called 
themselves  Romans.  When  the  barbarians  entered  Gaul,  they 
did  not  find  Gauls,  only  Romans;  and  even  in  the  Orient  where 
Greek  was  spoken,  the  people  down  to  the  Turkish  conquest 
always  called  themselves  Roman. 


10  MEDLEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

kept  in  this  condition  by  force.  But  this  violent  proc- 
ess was  not  adapted  to  reconstituting  a  nation;  these 
cultivators  likewise  took  flight  or  perished.  In  the 
fifth  century,  after  the  desolation  wrought  by  the  great 
armies  of  Radagais  and  Attila  and  others,  there  were 
left  vacant  parts  of  the  country  which  the  emperors 
were  not  able  to  fill.  In  Gaul,  Spain,  Italy,  and  in  all 
the  West,  a  portion  of  the  soil  lay  fallow  for  want  of 
laborers;  the  frontier  provinces  were  deserted.  In 
the  whole  basin  of  the  Danube,  from  Switzerland  to  the 
Balkans,  there  was  not  a  single  Roman  city  and  the 
Roman  population  had  so  completely  disappeared  that 
from  the  sixth  century  there  were  in  these  countries 
only  Germanic  or  Slavic  peoples.  In  Belgium  likewise 
the  Franks  found  only  a  desert. 

DECADENCE  OF  THE  ROMAN  ARMY 

This  vacant  territory  called  for  new  inhabitants. 
The  barbarians  were  continually  striving  to  penetrate 
it.  As  long  as  the  Roman  government  had  a  tolerable 
army  in  its  service  it  was  easy  to  repel  the  barbarians ; 
but  it  was  with  soldiers  as  it  was  with  money :  they 
were  always  harder  to  get.  The  inhabitants  had  ac- 
customed themselves  to  a  peaceable  life  and  did  not  care 
longer  to  enlist  in  the  army.  The  state  was  compelled 
to  demand  recruits  from  the  great  land-holders,  who 
took  some  of  the  serfs  from  their  estates.  These 
wretched  people,  taken  by  force  from  the  plough,  made 
but  poor  soldiers.  From  the  fourth  century  the  legion- 
aries were  no  longer  strong  enough  to  wear  the  breast- 
plate, and  the  helmet  was  replaced  by  a  cap. 


THE    GERMANIC    INVASION  11 

The  generals  preferred  to  employ  the  barbarians 
who  at  least  fought  with  spirit.  For  a  long  time  there 
had  been  German  troops  in  the  service  of  the  empire. 
At  the  end  of  the  fourth  century  the  Romans  had  them 
enrolled  in  whole  bands ;  they  settled  with  their  wives, 
their  children,  and  their  servants  on  lands  which  had 
been  given  them  ostensibly  as  pay.  These  warriors, 
established  in  the  empire,  preserved  their  language, 
their  customs,  their  armor,  and  their  chiefs,  but  they 
fought  in  the  Roman  army.  They  were  called  Laeti 
(servants)  or  Fcederati  (allies).  In  the  fifth  century 
they  were  no  longer  bands  only,  but  entire  peoples  like 
the  Visigoths  and  the  Burgundians.  They  had  crossed 
the  frontier,  sometimes  by  force ;  but,  instead  of  fight- 
ing the  emperor,  they  preferred  to  enter  his  service. 
Then  were  seen  Roman  armies  composed  of  bafbarian 
peoples  and  commanded  by  a  barbarian  general.  Thus, 
in  451,  the  Roman  army  that  withstood  the  invasion 
of  Attila  was  formed  of  Visigoths,  Franks  and  Bur- 
gundians; the  Roman  general  Aetius  was  a  Hun  like 
Attila.  The  Roman  empire  was  now  defended  only 
by  barbarians ;  it  was  soon  to  be  invaded  by  them. 


THE    INVASION    AND    ITS    EFFECTS 

Characteristics  of  the  Invasion In  the  empire  there 

were  vacant  lands  and  few  soldiers.  The  barbarians, 
who  were  all  warriors  and  eager  for  lands,  secured 
them,  sometimes  by  force  in  war,  sometimes  through 
service  as  allies.  It  is  this  entrance  of  the  barbarians 
into  the  empire  that  we  call  the  Barbarian  Invasion, 


12  MEDLEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

or,  as  the  Germans  say,  the  "  Migration  of  the  Peo- 
ples." It  was  not  made  all  at  once ;  the  Germans  came 
band  by  band,  the  first  in  376,  the  last  in  568.  Thus 
the  movement  lasted  more  than  two  centuries  in  the 
West  and  it  continued  in  the  East  throughout  the  Mid- 
dle Ages.  It  was  therefore  neither  a  war  nor  a  con- 
quest. The  Germans  did  not  form  a  body;  on  the 
contrary,  they  were  always  fighting  one  another,  so  far 
as  to  astonish  the  Roman  waiters.  "  Every  day,"  says 
Paulus  Orosius,  "we  behold  one  of  these  barbarian 
nations  exterminating  another;  we  have  seen  two 
troops  of  Goths  destroy  each  other ;  these  peoples  tear 
one  another  to  pieces." 

The  Germans  do  not  seem  to  have  detested  the 
Romans ;  they  willingly  fought  for  them  against  other 
Germans.  They  did  not  seek  to  destroy  the  empire, 
but  rather  to  enter  its  service.  Ataulf,  a  king  of  the 
Goths,  said  that  it  had  been  his  ambition  to  destroy 
the  Roman  name  and  to  erect  in  its  place  a  Gothic 
empire,  taking  to  himself  the  place  and  powers  of 
Augustus.  But  since  he  was  convinced  that  the  Goths 
were  too  undisciplined  to  obey  laws,  he  had  chosen  to 
apply  the  strength  of  the  Goths  to  renew  and  maintain 
the  power  of  the  Romans ;  he  would  be  the  restorer  of 
the  empire  which  it  was  beyond  his  power  to  replace. 
The  barbarians  entered  the  empire  with  no  political 
purpose,  but  simply  because  they  hoped  they  might 
prosper  more  than  in  Germany.  But  their  settlement 
had  results  which  no  one  could  then  foresee. 

Barbarism. — The  most  immediate  result  of  the  inva- 
sions was  to  render  the  empire  less  civilized.  For 
more  than  a  century  armed  bands  traversed  all  parts 


THE    GERMANIC    INVASION  13 

of  the  empire,  destroying  the  monuments,  killing  or 
taking  captive  the  peasants. 

The  Vandals  left  so  clear  a  memory  of  their  work 
that  the  word  Vandalism  continues  to  signify  the 
passion  for  destruction.  The  Huns,  a  people  of  Tartar 
horsemen,  said  that  the  grass  never  grew  on  the  soil 
touched  by  the  hoofs  of  their  horses.  Many  cities 
were  razed  to  the  ground  and  were  never  rebuilt; 
others  fell  to  the  rank  of  fortified  villages.  The  the- 
atres, the  baths,  the  schools,  all  the  Roman  remains  of 
civilization  gradually  fell  to  ruin;  in  many  of  the  vil- 
lages the  inhabitants  took  stones  from  them  to  build 
ramparts.  There  were  no  longer  any  artists,  there 
were  only  artisans,  and  these  in  but  small  number  and 
incapable  of  performing  any  but  the  rudest  tasks. 
There  were  no  public  shows,  no  schools,  no  literature. 
The  inhabitants  of  the  empire  became  like  the  bar- 
barians. A  monk  who  wrote  the  history  of  the  Mero- 
vingian kings  says  sadly,  "The  world  is  growing  old, 
keenness  of  intelligence  is  departing  from  us;  there  is 
no  one  in  our  days  who  pretends  to  compare  with  the 
orators  of  the  past." 

New  Peoples — The  imperial  regime  in  Europe  was 
destroyed  by  the  barbarians.  After  476  there  were  no 
more  emperors  in  Rome.  Each  barbarian  king  became 
master  over  the  territory  which  his  people  occupied.1 
The  western  empire  broke  up  into  several  barbarian 

1  Along  the  whole  frontier  of  the  empire  where  the  inhabitants 
had  disappeared,  the  country  was  repopulated  by  barbarians 
who  retained  their  Germanic  customs  and  language — the 
Flemish  in  Belgium,  the  Franks  on  the  left  banks  of  the  Rhine, 
the  Swabians  in  Switzerland,  the  Bavarians  in  Bavaria  and 
Austria.  Between  the  Danube  and  the  Balkans  were  settled 
the  Croats  and  Serbs,  peoples  of  the  Slavic  race. 


14  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

kingdoms.  Of  these  there  were  in  Gaul  the  kingdoms 
of  the  Franks  and  of  the  Burgundians ;  in  Great  Britain 
the  seven  kingdoms  of  the  Jutes,  the  Angles  and  the 
Saxons ;  in  Spain  the  kingdom  of  the  Visigoths ;  in 
Africa  the  kingdom  of  the  Vandals;  in  Italy  the 
kingdom  of  the  Ostrogoths  and,  later,  that  of  the 
Lombards. 

Several  of  these  kingdoms  were  destroyed  or  ab- 
sorbed into  neighboring  powers.  But  in  every  country 
there  was  formed  at  least  one  independent  nation  with 
its  government,  its  arts,  and  its  literature. 

New  Manners. — Ancient  civilization  came  to  an  end 
with  the  influx  of  the  Germans  into  the  empire.  It  is 
not  that  the  Germans  brought  a  new  civilization,  as 
the  Romans  did  in  Gaul,  nor  that  they  adopted  the 
customs  of  antiquity,  as  the  Persians  had  received 
those  of  Asia;  but  they  came  with  habits  of  life  and 
of  government  foreign  to  those  of  the  Romans  of  the 
later  empire. 

The  Roman  proprietors  lived  in  the  towns  without 
military  defence  and  subject  to  the  officials  of  the 
emperor.  The  Germans,  with  their  arms  in  their  hands, 
took  possession  of  the  rural  districts,  each  in  his  domain 
with  a  troop  of  devoted  companions,  each  a  master  on 
his  land  and  responsible  to  no  central  government. 
They  maintained  the  German  usage  of  paying  no  taxes, 
and  thus  destroyed  at  once  the  imperial  treasury  and 
despotism.  It  was  from  these  warriors  of  the  country 
districts  that  later  the  knightly  nobles  were  to  issue. 

The  Roman  proprietors  had  their  estates  cultivated 
by  a  troop  of  slaves.  The  Germans  had  only  serfs; 
that  is  to  say,  hereditary  farmers.    They  did  not  abol- 


THE   GERMANIC    INVASION  15 

ish  slavery  in  the  empire,  but  they  allowed  the  slaves 
to  attain  gradually  to  the  condition  of  serfs,  and  then 
to  villeins — that  is,  farmers  who  possess  the  soil  that 
they  cultivate. 

The  barbarians  introduced  neither  new  beliefs  nor 
new  inventions ;  but  they  entered  the  empire  with  cus- 
toms that  transformed  the  condition  of  proprietors  and 
peasants  and  altered  the  whole  structure  of  govern- 
ment. The  invasion  of  the  barbarians  was  a  great 
moment  in  the  history  of  civilization,  since  it  renewed 
society  and  government  in  Europe.  But,  as  is  the  case 
with  profound  transitions,  many  centuries  were  to  pass 
before  the  consequences  could  be  perceived. 


CHAPTER   II 
THE   GERMANS    AND   CHRISTIANITY 

THE    RELIGION    OF   THE    GERMANS 

The  Gods  of  the  Germans. — Like  the  Greeks  and 
Romans,  the  Germans  worshipped  many  deities  and 
represented  them  under  human  form.  The  Germanic 
pantheon  constituted  a  family. 

Woden,  "the  father  of  the  gods  and  the  lord  of 
battles,"  is  a  one-eyed  warrior,  armed  with  a  lance  that 
cuts  the  air,  riding  unseen  on  a  white  horse.  Thor, 
one  of  his  sons,  with  red  beard,  god  of  the  thunder  and 
the  storm,  rolls  along  in  his  chariot  and  hurls  the 
destroying  hammer  that  returns  to  his  hand.  Another, 
Tyr,  or  Sax-not,  is  the  god  of  the  sword  and  of  com- 
bat. Freyr,  on  the  contrary,  is  the  good  god,  peaceful, 
gracious,  who  ripens  the  crops  and  heals  the  sick. 
Balder  is  the  wise  god,  just  and  mild,  who  directs  the 
counsels  of  the  other  gods.  Feminine  counterparts  of 
these  are  the  goddesses :  Friga,  wife  of  Woden,  stern 
and  venerable,  who  presides  over  marriage;  Freya, 
young,  beautiful,  and  gracious,  the  sight  of  whom 
rejoices  the  gods. 

Walhalla — This  divine  family  inhabits  a  lofty  hall 
with  walls  of  gold  and  roof  of  silver — Walhalla.  A 
bridge  unites  it  with  the  land  of  men — the  rainbow,  on 
which  the  gods  pass  to  and   fro.     In  this  hall   sits 

16 


THE    GERMANS    AND    CHRISTIANITY  17 

Woden  on  his  throne  of  gold,  surrounded  by  gods  and 
goddesses.  The  Walkiiries,  the  divine  messengers, 
"daughters  of  battle,"  warriors  armed  with  buckler 
and  lance,  mounted  on  swift  horses,  traverse  the  field 
of  battle,  gathering  the  brave  who  have  died  in  com- 
bat. They  bear  them  to  Walhalla,  where  they  receive 
the  reward  of  their  courage.  There  they  live  in  the 
presence  of  the  gods,  enjoying  incessant  banquets 
served  by  Walkiiries  with  mead  and  beer.  In  the 
depths  of  the  earth,  far  away  to  the  north,  is  Niffheim, 
an  abyss  sombre  and  frozen,  the  abode  of  storms ;  this 
is  the  dwelling  of  Loki,  the  god  of  evil,  with  his  chil- 
dren, Fenris,  the  fierce  wolf,  and  Holla,1  the  goddess  of 
death,  half  black,  "who  eats  with  the  hunger  of  famine 
and  never  delights  in  what  she  has  seized."  To  this 
terrible  retreat  go  those  evil  warriors  who  have  per- 
mitted themselves  to  die  of  sickness  or  old  age.  Loki 
has  been  conquered  by  Woden  and  stretched  on  three 
sharp  rocks  where  a  serpent  distils  its  venom  on  his 
head.  But  one  day  he  will  be  delivered  and  will  return 
with  the  giants  and  the  evil  spirits  on  the  ship  "made 
of  the  nails  of  the  dead"  to  make  war  on  the  gods  of 
Walhalla.  The  ash-tree  Ygdrazil,  the  great  tree  that 
sustains  the  world,  will  be  shattered ;  Walhalla  will 
consume  with  fire,  the  gods  will  be  overthrown  (this 
is  what  they  called  the  overshadowing  of  the  gods)  ; 
then  a  better  earth  will  issue  from  the  ocean  with  new 
gods.2 

1  It  is  her  name  that  has  taken  in  German  the  meaning  of  hell. 

2  No  book  is  left  from  the  ancient  Germans  regarding  their 
religion.  But  the  Scandinavian  peoples  (the  Danes,  Norwegians, 
and  Swedes)  had  a  religion  analogous  to  that  of  the  Germans, 
and  with  this  we  are  acquainted  from  the  collection  entitled  The 
Edda  (the  grandmother)  which  was  made  in  Iceland. 


18  MEDIAEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

The  Worship  of  the  Gods — The  Germans  had  no 
idols  and  built  no  temples.  They  worshipped  their 
gods  on  the  mountains  or  in  the  woods,  hard  by  a  tree 
or  a  sacred  spring.  Each  head  of  a  family  offered  the 
prayers  and  sacrifices  in  his  own  name.  There  were 
never  more  than  a  few  priests  among  the  Germans, 
even  in  their  home  country,  and  the  bands  that  entered 
the  empire  did  not  take  them  with  them.  A  religion  so 
vague  as  theirs  and  which  no  one  was  interested  to 
defend  could  not  make  a  long  resistance.  The  Ger- 
mans at  the  moment  that  they  came  into  the  empire 
were  prepared  to  be  converted  to  Christianity. 


CONVERSION   OF   THE   GERMANS   IN   THE 
EMPIRE 

The  Barbarians  Arians. — Almost  all  the  barbarians 
when  they  entered  the  empire  were  converted,  not  to 
Catholicism,  but  to  Arianism.  The  Visigoths  of  Spain, 
the  Ostrogoths  of  Italy,  the  Burgundians  of  Gaul,  the 
Vandals  of  Africa,  and  the  Lombards  who  came  in  the 
sixth  century,  were  all  Arians.  It  would  seem  that 
the  Germans  had  difficulty  in  adopting  the  creed  of 
Nicsea;  perhaps  they  hesitated  to  make  the  Son  equal 
with  the  Father.  Their  Roman  subjects  were  ortho- 
dox. This  difference  in  religion  caused  for  more  than 
a  century  much  strife  and  many  persecutions.  Often 
the  barbarian  king  would  refuse  to  appoint  orthodox 
bishops :  the  see  of  Carthage  thus  remained  vacant  for 
twenty-four  years.  The  Vandal  king  Genseric,  not 
content  with  exiling  the  bishops,  endeavored  to  apply 


THE    GERMANS    AND    CHRISTIANITY  19 

to  his  subjects  the  edicts  that  the  emperors  had  pro- 
claimed against  the  heretics. 

And  yet  Christianity  triumphed.  Little  by  little  the 
Arian  kings  were  converted  and  had  their  peoples  con- 
verted— the  Burgundians  at  the  first  of  the  sixth  cen- 
tury, the  Visigoths  of  Spain  in  589,  and  the  Lombards 
in  the  middle  of  the  seventh  century.  The  other  king- 
doms were  destroyed  by  the  armies  of  Justinian. 

Conversion  of  the  Franks. — The  Franks  who  entered 
Gaul  from  the  north  were  still  pagans.  The  orthodox 
bishops  preferred  these  pagans  whom  they  hoped  to 
convert  to  barbarian  Christians  who  were  steadfast 
Arians.  Clovis,  the  chief  of  a  band  of  Frank  warriors, 
was  baptized  by  St.  Remi,  the  bishop  of  Rheims,  and 
3,000  of  his  followers  imitated  his  example.1  Soon 
this  war-chief,  supported  by  the  whole  Catholic  clergy, 
became  sole  king  in  all  Gaul.  From  this  time  all  the 
Frank  kings  who  were  descendants  of  Clovis  became 
Christians  and  sustained  the  orthodox  church.  This 
was  one  of  the  reasons  of  their  success. 

The  Frankish  people  were  slower  to  convert.  For  a 
long  time  many  of  the  warriors  remained  pagan,  even 
in  the  household  of  the  king.  In  the  middle  of  the 
sixth  century  Queen  Radegonde,  a  zealous  Christian, 
fell  in  with  pagan  sanctuaries  on  the  highways,  and 
when  she  bade  the  warriors  of  her  escort  destroy 
them  the  Franks  resisted  with  their  swords  and  staves. 
More  than  two  centuries  elapsed  before  all  the  Franks 
became  Christian. 

The  Benedictine  Rule — In  the  fourth  century  con- 
gregations of  monks  were  established  in  Italy.  Spain, 

1  We  know  this  event  only  by  the  traditions  collected  fifty 
years  later  by  Gregory  of  Tours. 


20  MEDIAEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

and  Gaul.  But  the  life  that  was  led  in  these  cloisters 
was  not  that  of  the  anchorites  of  the  Thebaid.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  sixth  century  Benedict,  a  noble  Italian 
(480-543),  after  living  some  years  as  a  solitary  in  a 
grotto  among  the  rocks,  made  his  home  on  Monte 
Cassino,  near  Naples.  In  this  place  were  a  temple  and 
a  wood  dedicated  to  Apollo.  Benedict  converted  the 
peasants  of  the  vicinity  and  induced  them  to  destroy  the 
sanctuary.  In  its  place  he  built  two  chapels  and  a 
great  monastery.  Benedict,  now  become  abbot  of  a 
large  congregation,  prepared  a  long  rule  for  his  monks. 
According  to  the  rule  the  monks  were  to  renounce 
the  world,  family  relations,  and  property;  they  were 
to  have  nothing  as  their  own,  not  even  "the  tablets  and 
the  stylus  with  which  they  wrote."  They  wore  the 
robe  of  rough  woollen  cloth  and  the  hood  of  the  peas- 
ants. They  had  to  submit  without  murmuring  to 
every  command  of  the  abbot.  "Hear,  O  my  son,"  says 
St.  Benedict  in  the  preamble  to  the  rule,  "listen  to  the 
precepts  of  the  master ;  fear  not  to  receive  the  warning 
of  a  good  father  and  to  accomplish  it,  to  the  end  that 
the  task  of  obedience  may  bring  you  to  that  from 
which  disobedience  and  idleness  have  separated  you." 
He  himself  calls  the  cloister  "a  school  of  divine  servi- 
tude." In  this  St.  Benedict  does  little  else  than  imitate 
the  example  of  the  monks  of  the  East.  But  he  differed 
from  them  in  the  mode  of  using  the  time :  instead  of 
contemplation  and  the  practice  of  asceticism  he  re- 
quires manual  labor.  "Idleness,"  says  he,  "is  the 
enemy  of  the  soul."  As  a  consequence,  the  whole  life 
of  the  monk  from  hour  to  hour  is  regulated  for  him. 
Every  day  he  must  work  with  his  hands  for  seven 


THE    GERMANS    AND    CHRISTIANITY  21 

hours  and  read  two  hours.1  The  day  is  divided  into 
seven  sacred  offices,  the  first  of  which  begins  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning. 

When  a  man  wishes  to  enter  the  community  he  is 
received  only  on  probation,  as  a  novice.  At  the  end  of 
two  months  the  rule  is  read  to  him :  "This  is  the  law 
under  which  you  desire  to  labor;  if  you  are  able  to 
observe  it,  enter ;  if  you  cannot,  go  away  freely."  At 
the  end  of  a  year  he  signs  an  agreement  and  deposits 
it  on  the  altar  in  the  presence  of  all  the  monks ;  he  then 
prostrates  himself  before  each  of  the  brethren.  From 
this  day  he  recognizes  that  he  is  no  longer  master  even 
of  his  own  body. 

The  Benedictine  rule  quickly  became  universal  for 
the  monks  of  the  West,  adopted  by  all  the  older  clois- 
ters and  the  basis  of  all  the  new.  In  the  West  there 
were  soon  only  Benedictine  monks. 

The  Benedictine  Monks. — In  the  sixth  century  parts 
of  Gaul  and  Italy  had  become  wilderness;  immense 
forests  covered  the  country.  The  monks  who  sought 
solitude  fled  to  these  deserts.  Amid  brushwood  and 
thorns  they  built  a  place  of  prayer  and  a  few  huts  and 
later  cleared  the  land  in  the  vicinity. 

Often,  too,  a  king,  a  count,  or  a  great  land-holder 
gave  them  a  large  estate,  as  land  at  this  time  was  of 
little  value,  and  a  new  monastery  was  founded.  The 
monks  built  granaries,  an  oven,  a  mill,  a  bakery,  tilled 
the  soil,  wove  garments,  manufactured  furniture,  ob- 
jects of  art,  and  copied  manuscripts.  Their  cloister 
was  at  once  a  model  farm,  a  workshop,  a  library,  and 

1  The  Rule  says  that  for  two  hours  the  monk  shall  be  free 
for  reading — not  that  he  must  read. — Chap.  48. — Ed. 


22  MEDLEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

a  school.  The  slaves  and  the  peasants  on  their  domain 
formed  a  large  village.  A  hundred  towns  in  France 
have  thus  originated  about  an  abbey;  many  still  bear 
the  name  of  the  saint  who  was  the  first  abbot.  Thou- 
sands of  parish  churches  were  founded  by  Benedictine 
converts. 


CONVERSION  OF  THE  GERMANS  BEYOND 
THE  EMPIRE 

The  Anglo-Saxons. — It  is  related  that  Gregory  the 
Great,  before  becoming  pope,  saw  in  the  slave  market 
of  Rome,  for  sale,  some  boys  of  blond  complexion  and 
white  skin,  and  asked  whence  they  came.  The  reply 
was  that  they  were  Angles.  "They  are  well  named," 
said  he;  "Angles,  fair  as  angels.  Are  they  Chris- 
tians?" When  he  learned  that  they  were  still  pagans 
he  exclaimed,  "Can  it  be  that  countenances  of  such 
beauty  cover  an  intelligence  that  is  still  without  the 
grace  of  God !"  From  this  day  he  longed  to  convert 
the  Angles.  On  the  accession  of  Gregory  to  the  papacy 
he  sent  forty  monks  under  the  conduct  of  Augustine 
to  one  of  the  kings  of  England.  The  missionaries 
came  bearing  a  picture  in  which  the  Christ  was  repre- 
sented. The  king  called  a  council  of  the  elders  and 
asked  if  he  should  adopt  the  new  religion.  A  chief 
then  arose  in  the  assembly  and  said,  "You  remember, 
perhaps,  O  King,  a  thing  which  occurs  at  times  in  the 
days  of  winter,  when  you  sit  at  the  feast  with  your 
warriors.  The  hearth  is  bright  and  the  hall  warm, 
while  storms  of  rain  and  snow  are  beating  without. 
A  little  bird  enters  and  flits  through  the  hall ;  it  comes 


THE    GERMANS   AND    CHRISTIANITY  23 

in  at  one  door  and  goes  out  at  another.  The  brief 
moment  while  it  is  under  shelter  is  sweet  to  it ;  it  feels 
neither  the  storm  nor  the  cold  of  winter,  but  this 
moment  is  but  short;  the  bird  escapes,  and  from  the 
winter  it  passes  again  into  the  winter.  Such  seems  to 
me  to  be  the  life  of  man  on  earth  in  comparison  with 
the  uncertain  life  beyond.  His  earthly  existence  is  but 
a  brief  span;  but  what  is  that  that  comes  before  and 
after  it?  We  do  not  know.  If,  then,  this  new  doc- 
trine can  teach  us  anything  surer  it  deserves  to  be  fol- 
lowed." Christianity  pleased  these  serious  barbarians 
because  it  spoke  to  them  of  the  beyond. 

The  Roman  missionaries  had  been  bidden  by  the 
pope  not  to  attack  the  ancient  beliefs.  "You  must 
keep  yourselves  from  the  destruction  of  the  temples 
of  the  idols;  you  should  rather  purify  them  and  dedi- 
cate them  to  the  service  of  the  true  God,  for  so  long 
as  the  people  see  these  places  of  devotion  remaining, 
they  will  be  more  disposed  to  go  thither  from  force  of 
habit.  The  people  of  this  country  are  accustomed  to 
offer  cattle  in  sacrifice ;  this  custom  should  be  trans- 
formed by  them  into  a  Christian  service.  The  natives 
are  to  be  allowed  to  build  their  log-cabins  about  the 
temples  which  have  been  transformed  into  churches. 
Let  them  assemble  there,  bring  thither  their  offerings, 
which  will  be  slaughtered  no  longer  as  an  offering  to 
devils  but  to  the  honor  of  God." 

The  Angles  and  the  Saxons  did  not  persecute  the 
missionaries,  yet  they  were  converted  but  slowly. 
There,  as  in  Gaul,  the  kings,  and  especially  the  queens, 
protected  the  new  religion,  but  the  warriors  were  not 
eager  to  adopt  it. 


24  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

The  Irish  Missionaries — Converted  to  Christianity 
from  the  fifth  century,  Ireland  was  then  noted  for  its 
numerous  monasteries  and  the  fervor  of  its  churches. 
The  land  was  called  the  "Isle  of  the  Saints."  Mission- 
aries from  Irish  convents  converted  almost  all  the 
barbarians  of  Britain.  Thus  they  came  face  to  face 
with  the  missionaries  of  Rome.  The  Irish  church, 
founded  by  Asiatic  Christians,  had  preserved  certain 
oriental  characteristics :  Easter  was  celebrated  on  a  day 
other  than  that  appointed  by  the  Roman  church;  the 
front  of  the  head  instead  of  the  crown  was  tonsured. 
These  formal  differences  were  sufficient  to  precipitate 
a  violent  conflict  between  the  Irish  and  the  Roman 
missionaries.  The  barbarians  witnessed  their  disputes 
over  the  comparative  merits  of  their  churches. 

An  orthodox  writer  describes  as  follows  a  great  dis- 
cussion held  at  Whitby  in  664  before  the  whole  assem- 
bly of  the  people :  Colman  the  Irishman  declared  that 
his  countrymen  could  not  alter  their  mode  of  observing 
Easter,  which  had  come  down  to  them  from  their 
fathers.  The  Saxon  Wilfrid  replied  to  him,  "We  cele- 
brate Easter  as  we  have  seen  it  observed  at  Rome, 
where  the  apostles  Paul  and  Peter  lived,  in  Gaul,  and 
in  the  whole  empire.  The  Britons  alone  obstinately 
refuse  to  conform  to  the  custom  of  the  rest  of  the 
world.  As  for  your  father  Columba,  saint  as  he  was, 
can  he  be  preferred  to  the  blessed  Prince  of  the  Apos- 
tles to  whom  our  Lord  said,  'Thou  art  Peter,  and  on 
this  rock  will  I  build  my  church,  and  I  will  give  thee 
the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven'  ?"  The  king  then 
said  to  the  Irishman,  "Is  it  true  that  these  words  were 
addressed  by  our  Lord  to  St.  Peter?"    "It  is  true,"  he 


THE    GERMANS    AND    CHRISTIANITY  25 

replied.  "Can  you  show  me  a  similar  authority  be- 
stowed on  your  Columba?"  the  king  rejoined.  "No!" 
was  the  response.  "You  agree  then,"  said  the  king, 
"that  the  keys  of  heaven  have  been  given  to  St.  Peter?" 
"Yes."  "I  say,  then,  that  he  is  the  door-keeper  of 
heaven,  and  that  I  must  not  resist  him,  but  obey  him 
in  everything,  lest,  when  I  come  to  the  gates  of  the 
heavenly  kingdom,  I  shall  find  no  one  to  open  to  me." 
The  argument  was  suited  to  a  barbarian's  intelligence ; 
the  assembly  approved  the  speech  and  determined  on 
the  adoption  of  the  Roman  customs  for  the  whole  king- 
dom. By  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  century  the 
Romans  had  gained  the  ascendancy,  and  from  that 
time  the  whole  English  church  gave  obedience  to  the 
pope. 

Conversion  of  the  Germans  in  Germany In  Ger- 
many, in  the  sixth  century,  there  were  many  nations,  all 
of  whom  were  still  pagan.  It  was  the  Irish  monks  who 
began  the  work  of  their  evangelization.  In  Swabia, 
near  Lake  Constance,  settled  St.  Gall  in  the  place 
where  the  great  abbey  bearing  his  name  was  founded. 
Kilian  converted  the  Franconians  about  the  Main 
River,  and  suffered  martyrdom.  St.  Wulfran  brought 
Radbod,  the  duke  of  the  Frisians,  to  accept  baptism ; 
but  as  he  was  about  to  enter  the  font,  and  when  he 
was  informed  that  his  subjects  were  in  hell,  he  replied 
that  he  would  refuse  to  be  a  Christian  rather  than  be 
separated  from  them. 

At  last  Winfrid,  surnamed  Boniface  an  Anglo- 
Saxon,  was  worthy  to  be  called  the  Apostle  of  the 
Germans.  Like  Augustine  in  England,  Boniface  was 
sent  by  the  pope.    He  set  out  with  this  letter :  "Desiring 


26  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

that  you  rejoice  with  us  in  eternity,  we  have  sent  to 
you  Boniface,  who  will  baptize  you  and  will  instruct 
you  in  the  faith  of  God.  Obey  him  in  all  things,  honor 
him  as  a  father,  regard  his  teachings."  Boniface  was 
further  recommended  to  the  Germanic  chiefs  by  Charles 
Martel,  the  Frankish  mayor.  Thanks  to  this  support 
Boniface  was  able  to  penetrate  into  the  heart  of  Ger- 
many, where  he  held  services,  cut  down  the  sacred 
trees,  and  stopped  the  worship  of  idols.  In  this  manner 
he  succeeded  in  converting  a  part  of  the  chiefs  of  the 
people  in  Bavaria,  in  Thuringia,  and  in  Hesse.  Then 
he  established  himself  at  Mainz  with  the  title  of  arch- 
bishop. The  Saxons  in  the  valley  of  the  Weser  still 
remained  a  pagan  people.  After  a  series  of  bloody 
wars,  Charlemagne  forced  their  chiefs  to  accept  bap- 
tism. Then  he  established  bishops  and  monks  in  all 
the  country,  endowed  them  richly,  and  decreed  the  pen- 
alty of  death  on  every  Saxon  who  should  adore  his 
ancient  gods  or  who  should  fail  to  observe  the  fasts 
prescribed  by  the  church.  All  Germany  thus  found 
itself  Christian  and,  like  England,  attached  to  Rome 
and  devoted  to  the  pope.  Germany,  in  its  turn,  sent 
missionaries  to  evangelize  the  pagans  of  Scandinavia 
and  warriors  to  exterminate  the  heathen  Slavs. 


CHAPTER   III 
THE   BYZANTINE   EMPIRE 

The  Byzantine  Empire — Almost  all  the  barbarians 
who  invaded  the  empire  had  turned  to  the  west.  Thus 
there  remained  in  Constantinople  an  emperor  who  con- 
tinued to  govern  the  whole  of  the  Orient.  For  two 
centuries  (the  fifth  and  the  sixth)  the  Roman  empire 
still  preserved  at  least  half  of  its  old  domain.  It 
extended  over  the  whole  of  Asia  Minor,  Syria,  Egypt, 
over  all  the  lands  to  the  east  of  the  Adriatic,  and  it 
even  reconquered  for  some  years  Italy,  Africa,  and  a 
part  of  Asia.  Then  it  was  invaded  in  turn :  the  bar- 
barian Slavs  took  Illyria  and  the  lands  to  the  south  of 
the  Balkans,  the  Arabs  seized  all  Africa,  Syria,  and  a 
part  of  Asia.  There  remained  to  the  empire  only  two 
shreds  of  the  two  coasts  of  Constantinople — to  the 
west  Thrace  and  to  the  east  Asia  Minor. 

But  the  capital  resisted  all  attacks  of  the  Arabs.  In 
this  secure  refuge  the  oriental  government  of  the  later 
empire  maintained  itself  with  its  pompous  etiquette, 
its  absolute  government,  and  its  mechanical  adminis- 
tration. It  endured  until  the  capture  of  the  city  by 
the  Turks  in  1453.  This  empire,  reduced  to  the  envi- 
rons of  Byzantium,  is  what  we  call  the  Byzantine 
Empire. 

Justinian. — Although    the    office    of    emperor    was 

hereditary  there   was   no    longer   in    the   empire   any 

27 


28  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

imperial  family.  The  intrigues  of  the  police  and  the 
riots  of  the  populace  of  Constantinople  rarely  per- 
mitted an  emperor  to  transmit  his  power  to  his  de- 
scendants ;  the  majority  of  the  emperors  were  usurpers. 

The  most  noted  emperor  was  Justinian  (527-565). 
He  was  a  son  of  a  peasant  of  the  Danube  provinces;1 
in  his  youth  he  had  been  a  herder  of  sheep.  His  uncle, 
Justin,  after  being-  a  shepherd,  became  a  soldier  and 
by  one  stage  after  another  became  praetorian,  praefect, 
and  at  last  emperor.  He  summoned  Justinian  to  Con- 
stantinople, who,  by  donations  of  money  to  the  soldiers 
and  games  in  the  circus  for  the  people,  made  himself 
popular  and  secured  recognition  as  emperor  at  the 
death  of  his  uncle. 

Justinian  sought  everything  that  could  flatter  his 
vanity;  he  labored  to  make  himself  illustrious  by  his 
conquests,  by  sumptuous  edifices,  and  by  a  great  legis- 
lative work.  He  wished  to  be  conqueror,  builder,  and 
legislator. 

Unskilled  in  war,  Justinian  charged  his  friend  Beli- 
sarius  with  making  the  conquests  in  his  name.  The 
empire  at  that  time  had  two  groups  of  enemies :  in  the 
East,  the  military  empire  of  the  Persians ;  in  the  West, 
the  kingdoms  established  by  the  German  barbarians 
in  the  provinces  of  the  old  empire.  The  Persian  king 
was  strong,  having  an  army  thoroughly  organized ; 
the  barbarian  kings  were  weak,  their  warriors  ener- 
vated by  luxury ;  they  were  hated  by  the  Catholic  popu- 
lation, and  maintained  no  discipline.  On  the  Persian 
frontier  Justinian  wras  always  beaten ;  Belisarius  was 

1  It  is  not  true  that  he  was  a  Slavic  barbarian  as  a  Slavic 
writer  maintained  a  long  time  afterward. 


THE    BYZANTINE    EMPIRE  29 

able  to  defend  only  Asia  Minor  and  secure  peace  on 
conditions  of  paying  tribute  (533)  ;  towards  the  end 
of  his  reign  (562)  he  signed  a  new  peace  and  con- 
tracted to  pay  annually  3,000  pieces  of  gold.  With 
the  barbarian  kingdoms  Belisarius  completely  suc- 
ceeded: he  conquered  the  Vandal  kingdom  of  Africa 
(534)  in  a  single  campaign,  the  Ostrogothic  kingdom 
of  Italy  after  eighteen  years  of  war,  and  secured  the 
cession  of  the  south  of  Spain  by  the  king  of  the  Visi- 
goths. Justinian  could  boast  of  having  partially  recon- 
structed the  old  Roman  empire.  But  his  supremacy 
was  without  energy;  the  empire  could  conquer  these 
lands,  but  it  could  not  defend  Italy  against  the  Lom- 
bards, nor  Africa  against  the  Arabs. 

As  a  builder,  Justinan  applied  himself  to  defend  the 
empire  by  fortifications  and  to  embellish  Constanti- 
nople with  monuments ;  and  that  posterity  might  not 
ignore  his  work  he  had  a  description  made  of  every- 
thing that  he  had  constructed :  80  fortresses  along  the 
Danube,  600  in  the  provinces  of  Europe ;  the  wall  that 
defended  the  isthmus  on  which  Constantinople  was 
situated ;  a  series  of  fortresses  along  the  Euphrates. 

Of  Justinian's  monuments,  the  most  notable  was  St. 
Sophia,  the  cathedral  of  Constantinople,  the  most  emi- 
nent achievement  of  Byzantine  architecture.  It  still 
remains,  now  converted  into  a  mosque  by  the  Turks. 

As  a  legislator,  Justinian  charged  the  jurisconsult 
Tribonian  with  making  two  great  compilations  of  all 
the  laws  and  all  the  works  of  the  jurisconsults. 

By  his  conquests,  his  edifices,  and  his  laws,  Justinian 
succeeded,  as  he  desired,  in  securing  an  eminence  which 
still  persists.     His  name  will  never  be  forgotten,  and 


30  MEDLEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

yet  his  reign  was  a  wretched  one.  He  married  Theo- 
dora, an  adventuress,  who  manipulated  him  according 
to  her  will.  He  took  sides  with  so  much  ardor  in  the 
games  of  the  circus  with  the  Greens  that  the  Blues 
rose  in  riot,1  pillaged  Constantinople  for  five  days,  and 
were  about  to  murder  the  emperor.  He  cruelly  perse- 
cuted his  enemies,  closed  the  schools  of  philosophy  in 
Athens,  crushed  the  people  with  taxes,  and  degraded 
his  general  Belisarius,  who  had  made  so  many  con- 
quests for  him. 

Legislative  Works — Although  the  emperors  were 
now  obeyed  only  in  the  Greek-speaking  parts  of  the 
empire,  they  continued  to  publish  their  official  acts 
in  Latin,  and  the  tribunals  of  the  empire  continued  to 
judge  according  to  the  Roman  law.  But  from  the  third 
century  there  were  no  longer  in  the  empire  any  juris- 
consults capable  of  perfecting  the  law  by  the  composi- 
tion of  original  works.  Men  were  content  to  repeat 
the  teachings  of  the  jurisconsults  of  the  second  and 
third  centuries — Gaius,  Ulpian,  Paulus,  Papinian,  and 
Modestinus.  The  emperors  decreed  also  that  for  the 
future  on  every  question  that  was  not  provided  for  in 
the  law  the  judge  was  to  follow  the  opinion  of  these 
jurisconsults,  or,  if  there  were  disagreement  between 
them,  to  follow  the  opinion  of  the  majority.  At  the 
same  time  they  continued  to  issue  edicts  and  to  send 
to  governors  of  provinces  responses  to  questions  of 
administration  (rescripts)  which  had  the  force  of  law. 
In  the  fifth  century  a  collection  of  these  decrees  of  the 
emperors  had  been  made  under  the  name  of  the  Theo- 
dosian  Code. 

1  The  so-called  Nika  riot.  See  Gibbon,  Decline  and  Fall, 
chap.  xl. 


THE    BYZANTINE    EMPIRE  31 

Justinian  determined  to  bring  together  the  whole 
Roman  law.  He  charged  Tribonian  with  the  task  of 
making  extracts  from  all  the  Roman  jurisconsults  and 
from  all  the  acts  of  the  emperors.  This  work  of  com- 
pilation, in  which  a  commission  of  jurisconsults  was 
engaged,  required  more  than  twenty  years.  The  result 
was  four  works :  ( i )  the  Pandects  or  Digest,  in  fifty 
books,  a  collection,  or  rather  a  confused  aggregation, 
of  fragments  of  all  the  Roman  jurisconsults ;  it  con- 
tained extracts  from  more  than  2,000  volumes,  many 
of  these  extracts  being  taken  at  random  and  some  in 
contradiction  with  others;  (2)  the  Code,  in  ten  books, 
a  collection  of  the  imperial  edicts  from  the  fourth  to 
the  sixth  century;  (3)  the  Institutes,  a  manual  for  the 
use  of  students;  (4)  the  Novels,  a  collection  of  the 
ordinances  of  Justinian.  Then  the  emperor  forbade 
citing  from  any  of  the  ancient  jurisconsults,  and  also 
prohibited  for  the  future  the  composition  of  any  new 
work  of  jurisprudence.  We  still  possess  these  works 
of  Justinian,  and  it  is  through  them  that  the  Roman 
law  has  come  down  to  us. 

The  Court  and  the  People. — The  Byzantine  empire 
becomes  more  and  more  like  an  oriental  monarchy. 
The  emperor  is  master;  he  executes  those  who  give 
him  offence  and  confiscates  their  goods  according  to 
his  convenience.  He  has  ecclesiastical  authority ;  he 
names  and  degrades  bishops,  promulgates  dogmas  and 
persecutes  dissenters. 

The  great  officers,  the  officials,  the  domestics,  form 
about  him  a  pompous  court  where  each  has  his  own 
grade  of  nobility  and  everything  is  regulated  by  minute 
ceremonial. 


32  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

This  court  absorbed  all  the  wealth  of  the  country; 
it  is  the  only  important  thing  in  the  empire.  Life  is 
spent  in  intrigues  with  women  or  with  courtiers,  or  in 
conspiracies.  For  every  man,  however  humble,  knew 
that  he  might  become  emperor.  Anastasius  had  been 
chief  of  the  cavalry,  Justin  had  kept  swine,  Phocas 
was  a  soldier  of  fortune. 

The  emperor  defended  himself  by  spies  and  cruel 
tortures.  Phocas  (603-610)  mutilated  the  partisans 
of  his  predecessor,  tearing  out  their  tongues,  blinding 
them,  and  cutting  off  hands  and  feet ;  or  he  had  them 
put  to  death  by  arrows  or  by  burning.  These  tortures 
often  took  place  in  the  circus.  The  emperor  Justinian 
II.,  who  himself  had  his  nose  cut  off  appeared  at 
the  amphitheatre,  his  feet  on  the  heads  of  his  two 
rivals,  and  later  had  them  executed. 

The  people  of  Constantinople  developed  a  passion 
for  chariot-racing.  The  Blues  and  the  Greens  fought 
in  the  streets  of  the  city.  In  532  the  two  parties,  then 
united,  besieged  the  emperor  in  his  palace  and  set  fire 
to  half  the  city. 

The  people  were  ardent,  too,  in  theological  contro- 
versies regarding  the  nature  of  Christ;  the  populace 
divided  into  two  camps,  fighting  in  the  churches  with 
clubs.  Incapable  of  government,  of  making  war,  of 
work,  or  of  reflection,  the  Byzantines  knew  only  how 
to  enjoy  themselves  and  to  dispute. 

The  Army. — In  the  provinces  there  remained  no 
other  power  than  that  of  the  armies.  They  were 
recruited  from  every  country  under  tribute  to  the 
emperor,  Greeks,  Persians,  Arabs,  Armenians,  Slavs, 
even   the    Franks    and    the    Normans.     The   mass  of 


THE    BYZANTINE    EMPIRE  33 

these  served  in  the  cavalry,  paid  no  taxes,  and  pos- 
sessed lands;  the  French  crusaders  of  the  thirteenth 
century  called  them  Chevaliers  and  Gentlemen. 

The  system  of  civil  governors  in  the  provinces  had 
disappeared  during  the  wars.  Each  general  of  the 
army  governed  his  Theme  (his  army  and  province). 
Some,  cut  off  from  all  communication  with  the  capital, 
protected  themselves  in  their  own  way;  the  themes  of 
Calabria  and  of  Sicily,  for  example,  were  truly  inde- 
pendent. 

Compilations — Constantinople  had  preserved  her 
libraries  filled  with  the  works  of  antiquity.  She  had 
also  schools  where  aspirants  for  public  office  came  to 
be  instructed ;  like  the  mandarins  of  China,  the  officials 
of  Byzantium  must  be  men  of  culture.  The  professors, 
almost  all  of  them  monks,  studied  theology,  jurispru- 
dence, mathematics  and  grammar;  some  were  men  of 
universal  tastes  who  possessed  all  the  science  of  their 
time. 

Byzantine  scholars  did  not  attempt  to  produce  orig- 
inal works,  but  from  the  mass  of  ancient  books  made 
extracts  and  then  gathered  these  into  collections.  Pho- 
tius  in  the  ninth  century  composed  the  Myriobiblion 
(the  ten  thousand  books).  In  the  tenth  century 
Simeon  Metaphrastus  (the  translator),  general  and 
diplomat,  made  a  vast  collection  of  lives  of  saints,  and 
the  emperor  Constantine  Porphyrogenitus  undertook 
a  great  work  of  compilation.  The  Byzantines  pur- 
posed to  condense  in  a  few  works  all  the  science  of 
antiquity,  an  undertaking  of  pedants  rather  than  of 
scholars,  but  which  has  preserved  to  us  important 
fragments  of  books  lost  since  antiquity. 


84  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

Byzantine  Art — Throughout  the  Middle  Ages  they 
continued  in  the  Byzantine  empire  to  build  and  adorn 
churches  and  palaces.  Artists  were  numerous,  espe- 
cially at  the  court  of  Constantinople  and  in  the  cloisters 
among  the  monks.  The  special  Byzantine  art  is  archi- 
tecture and  its  most  imposing  monument  is  the  church 
of  St.  Sophia  at  Constantinople,  erected  under  Justin- 
ian and  preserved  by  the  Turks,  who  have  transformed 
it  into  a  mosque. 

The  Byzantine  church  is  composed  of  a  great  central 
dome,  terminating  in  a  cupola  through  which  the  light 
comes,  and  several  smaller  domes  or  semi-domes.  All 
these  domes  are  gilded  on  the  outside  and  glisten  in 
the  distance.  In  the  interior  the  columns  are  of  pre- 
cious marble,  of  jasper,  or  porphyry,  all  veined  with 
red  and  green.  The  ground  is  paved  in  brilliant  mo- 
saic, the  walls  are  covered  with  frescoes  on  a  back- 
ground of  gold.  The  impression  aimed  at  is  that  of 
richness.  These  churches,  with  cupola,  rounded  and 
gilded,  served  from  the  sixth  to  the  eleventh  century 
as  models  to  architects,  not  only  in  the  Byzantine 
empire  but  among  the  barbarian  Christians  of  the 
west.  To  this  day  they  remain  the  type  of  Christian 
architecture  in  the  Orient ;  all  the  Russian  churches  are 
Byzantine. 

Painting  and  sculpture,  as  already  in  Egypt  and 
Assyria,  are  only  auxiliary  arts,  used  for  the  decoration 
of  the  products  of  architecture.  The  frescoes  repre- 
sent long  processions  of  saints  or  priests.  The  figures 
stand  out  from  a  background  of  gold;  they  are  stiff, 
monotonous,  with  eyes  that  are  too  large,  the  body 
angular,   expressionless  and  lifeless.     The  statues  of 


THE    BYZAxNTINE    EMPIRE  35 

saints  have  the  same  faults.  The  artists  have  ceased 
to  work  from  nature  and  copy  conventional  models 
and  separate  themselves  further  and  further  from  the 
truth. 

In  the  Byzantine  empire  were  preserved  also  all  the 
arts  of  ornament :  carving  on  wood  or  ivory,  gold- 
smithing,  enamelling,  and  miniatures  of  manuscripts. 
For  five  centuries,  from  the  sixth  to  the  eleventh,  it  is 
Byzantine  artists  who  work  for  the  barbarous  kings, 
bishops  and  abbots  of  Gaul  and  Germany,  who  provide 
for  them  the  ornaments  for  the  churches,  the  reliquar- 
ies, the  chalices,  thrones,  crowns,  and  precious  manu- 
scripts. And  when  artists  began  to  rise  in  the  west 
they  imitated  Byzantine  models. 

The  Church  of  the  Orient. — The  Christian  churches 
of  the  Orient  would  not  submit  themselves  to  the  pope 
of  Rome;  they  gave  their  obedience  to  the  bishops  of 
the  great  cities,  Constantinople,  Jerusalem,  Antioch  and 
Alexandria,  and  these  bishops  were  called  Patriarchs; 
but,  above  all  the  patriarchs,  the  emperor  was  the 
head  of  the  church,  sovereign  at  once  over  bodies  and 
souls,  as  the  Czar  is  to  this  day  in  Russia.  He  even 
decided  questions  of  dogma.  In  the  quarrel  concerning 
the  two  natures  of  Christ,  Zeno  in  482  published  an 
Edict  of  Union  which  commanded  the  two  parties  to 
accept  a  common  formula.  One  hundred  and  fifty 
years  later,  since  Christians  continued  to  discuss 
whether  Christ  had  one  or  two  natures,  Heraclius  in 
639  declared  in  an  edict  that  there  were  two  natures 
in  Christ,  though  but  one  will ;  a  new  heresy  was  the 
result  of  this.  The  church  of  the  East  broke  into  sev- 
eral sects. 


36  MEDLEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

The  Nestorians  said  there  were  two  natures  in 
Christ,  one  human,  the  other  divine.  The  Virgin  is 
not  the  Mother  of  God,  but  only  the  Mother  of  Christ. 
They  formed  the  church  of  Chaldea,  which  had  its 
centre  at  Babylon. 

The  Monophysites  taught  there  was  but  one  nature 
in  Christ,  the  divine  nature.  They  founded  the 
churches  of  Egypt,  Armenia,  and  Syria.  The  name 
Jacobites  was  applied  to  them. 

The  Monothelites  believed  in  the  two  natures  and  in 
but  one  will.  They  still  subsist  in  the  mountains  of 
Lebanon  under  the  name  of  Maronites. 

The  orthodox  church  of  Constantinople  was  pre- 
served only  among  the  Greeks  of  Asia  Minor  and  of 
Europe.  It,  too,  could  not  remain  in  unity  with  the 
western  church.  On  several  questions  the  churches 
were  not  in  agreement.  The  occidentals  would  not 
permit  the  marriage  of  priests  nor  the  worship  of 
images,  and  to  the  phrase  of  the  Nicene  Creed,  "The 
Holy  Spirit  proceeds  from  the  Father,"  they  had  added 
"and  from  the  Son"  (filioque).  Neither  of  the  two 
parties  would  yield.  Ever  since  the  emperor  had 
ceased  to  rule  in  Rome,  the  pope  and  bishops  of  Italy 
recognized  the  emperor  of  Constantinople  as  sov- 
ereign, but  they  did  not  wish  the  empire  to  rule  in  the 
church  and  to  determine  questions  of  faith  and  disci- 
pline. Communications  between  the  pope  and  the 
orientals  was  always  becoming  less  frequent  and  more 
difficult.  Then  came  an  emperor  of  the  Iconoclasts 
(image-breakers),  who  by  the  edict  of  728 1  prohibited 
in  the  churches  any  representation  of  Christ,  of  the 
1  The  chronology  of  these  events  is  uncertain. — Ed. 


THE    BYZANTINE    EMPIRE  37 

Virgin,  or  of  the  saints,  and  commanded  the  statues  to 
be  broken  and  the  pictures  to  be  effaced.  The  pope 
invited  the  faithful  to  resist  and  excommunicated  the 
iconoclasts.  At  last,  when  a  Frankish  king  (Charle- 
magne) had  become  emperor  in  the  West,  all  rela- 
tions between  Rome  and  the  Orientals  ceased. 

Importance  of  the  Byzantine  Empire. — It  is  the  cus- 
tom to  speak  of  the  Byzantines  with  disdain.1  It  is 
true  that  the  statements  of  their  chroniclers  represent 
a  people  cruel,  slothful,  and  corrupt.  But  when  the 
West  was  being  barbarized  they  alone  remained  civil- 
ized. They  preserved  the  civilization  of  antiquity  and 
transmitted  it  to  the  nations  of  modern  Europe.  Thus 
they  have  held  a  large  place  in  the  history  of  the  civil- 
ized world.     In  short,  this  is  what  they  accomplished : 

1.  They  preserved,  although  in  a  mutilated  condi- 
tion, the  Roman  law,  which  is  still  in  many  matters 
the  rule  of  all  civilized  peoples. 

2.  They  saved  the  manuscripts  of  Greek  writers. 

3.  They  created  one  of  the  great  forms  of  art,  at 
least  in  architecture — Byzantine  art. 

4.  They  established  a  Christian  church  which  con- 
verted almost  all  the  Slavic  world. 

5.  They  gave  to  the  barbarous  people  of  eastern 
Europe  the  example  of  civilization.  The  Russians 
especially  admired  and  imitated  Byzantium.  Russian 
churches  are  Byzantine,  the  Russian  alphabet  is  com- 
posed of  Greek  letters,  Russian  religion  is  Greek 
Catholicism,  even  baptismal  names  are  Greek — Alex- 

1  Especially  since  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman 
Empire.  In  his  "Voyage  en  Italie"  Taine  calls  the  Byzantine 
empire  "a  gigantic  mass  of  mould,  a  thousand  years  old." 


38  MEDLEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

ander,  Michael,  Basil,  Anne.  The  Russian  people, 
today  more  than  one  hundred  million  souls,  not  to 
speak  of  the  Serbs  and  the  Bulgarians,  have  received 
from  Byzantium  their  writing,  their  religion,  their  art. 
The  Byzantines  were  the  teachers  of  the  Slavs  as  the 
Romans  were  of  the  Germans. 


CHAPTER  IV 
MOHAMMEDANISM 

Primitive  Religion  of  the  Arabs. — The  frontier  of 
the  Roman  empire  to  the  east  was  arrested  by  the  sands 
of  Arabia.  The  Arabs  had  remained  independent  and 
barbarous,  divided  into  numerous  tribes.  Those  along 
the  coast  had  small  towns  and  some  culture;  they  sent 
by  caravan  to  the  west  coffee,  incense,  and  dates.  Those 
of  the  interior  traversed  the  wilderness  with  their 
herds,  always  armed  and  on  horseback,  half  shepherds 
and  half  brigands,  the  sort  of  life  still  pursued  by  the 
Bedouins. 

The  Arabs  engaged  in  tribal  warfare,  but  they  all 
recognized  themselves  as  of  the  same  race.  Like  the 
Jews,  they  belonged  to  that  race  which  we  call  Semitic 
and  which  is  clearly  distinguished  from  the  Aryans  of 
India  and  Europe  by  language  and  religion. 

All  the  Arabs  believed  in  one  supreme  God  and 
creator,  Allah  taala ;  but  the  special  objects  of  their 
worship  were  the  Djinns,  or  invisible  spirits.  Each 
tribe  had  its  peculiar  deity  whom  it  adored  under  the 
form  of  a  star,  a  stone,  or  an  idol.1  But  all  had  a 
common  sanctuary  at  Mecca,  the  Kaaba.  This  was  a 
chapel  in  the  form  of  a  cube,  whose  walls  of  rough 
stone   were  covered   with    woollen   drapery.      In   the 

1  Many  Arabs  had  become  Jews,  others  Christians. 
39 


40  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

sanctuary  was  preserved  the  Black  Stone,  venerated  by 
every  Arab  (it  is  a  mass  of  basalt  now,  broken  in 
twelve  pieces).  Further,  each  tribe  had  placed  here 
its  own  idol ;  it  is  said  there  were  360  of  them,  and  in 
the  number  an  image  of  Abraham  and  another  of  the 
Virgin  with  the  infant  Jesus. 

In  the  narrow  valley  cut  between  the  bare  rocks 
surrounding  the  Kaaba  the  tribe  of  the  Koreishites 
had  about  the  fifth  century  built  the  little  town  of 
Mecca.  Every  year  a  great  fair  was  held  there,  to- 
gether with  festivals  and  contests  in  poesy ;  during  this 
time  all  war  ceased.  Mecca  was  the  sacred  city  to 
which  pilgrimage  was  made  from  all  parts  of  Arabia. 

Mohammed. — It  was  in  the  sacred  tribe  of  the  Ko- 
reishites, masters  of  Mecca  and  guardians  of  the 
Kaaba,  that  Mahomet  was  born  (between  569  and 
571).  An  orphan  and  poor,  he  lived  an  obscure  life 
until  he  was  forty  years  of  age.  He  was  a  timid  man 
and  of  melancholy  disposition,  subject  to  attacks  of 
fever  and  to  hysterics.  He  had  entered  the  sect  of  the 
Hanifs,  the  impious,  so-called  because  they  did  not 
adore  the  idols,  but  only  the  one  supreme  God,  the  God 
of  Abraham,  the  father  of  the  Arab  race.  Ill-regarded 
by  the  people  of  his  tribe,  Mahomet  established  him- 
self a  league's  distance  from  Mecca,  in  the  midst  of 
bare  and  burning  rocks.  It  was  there  that  in  61 1,1 
according  to  the  Arab  legend,  he  had  a  vision  that 
made  him  the  founder  of  a  religion.  "A  mighty 
being,"  whom  Mahomet  afterward  called  the  angel 
Gabriel,  appeared  to  him  and  said  to  him,  "Preach." 
"I  do  not  know  how  to  preach,"   replied   Mahomet. 

^robablv  610. — Ed. 


MOHAMMEDANISM  41 

"Preach,"  replied  the  spirit.  From  that  time  Mahomet 
regarded  himself  as  directly  commissioned  by  God  to 
reestablish  the  true  religion ;  he  began  at  once  to  preach 
it  to  his  wife  and  his  children,  then  to  his  friends  and 
the  people  of  Mecca.  He  had  against  him  all  the  chiefs 
of  the  tribe  and  was  forced  to  flee  to  Medina  (622).1 
The  people  of  Medina,  enemies  to  the  people  of  Mecca, 
received  Mahomet  as  a  prophet  and  swore  fidelity  to 
him.  The  prophet,  surrounded  by  the  men  of  Medina 
and  by  twenty-four  companions  who  had  left  Mecca  to 
follow  him,  then  began  a  guerilla  warfare  and  a  sys- 
tem of  brigandage  against  the  caravans  of  Mecca, 
which  terminated  with  the  submission  of  the  Meccans. 
He  then  compelled  the  rest  of  the  Arabs  to  accept  his 
religion. 

Mahomet  performed  no  miracles  and  did  not  an- 
nounce himself  as  a  divine  being;  he  regarded  himself 
solely  as  an  inspired  being  who  spoke  and  acted  in 
the  name  of  God.  He  presented  himself  as  a  prophet 
and  a  reformer.  The  true  religion,  said  he,  existed 
before  Adam ;  it  consists  in  believing  in  the  only  true 
God  and  in  obeying  the  commands  which  he  transmits 
to  men  through  his  prophets ;  Noah,  Abraham,  Moses, 
and  Jesus  were  prophets.  Judaism  and  Christianity 
are  not  absolute  errors,  but  perverted  forms  of  the 
religion  of  the  true  God.  This  eternal  religion  Ma- 
homet has  come  to  revive  in  its  purity;  he  is  the  last 
and  the  greatest  of  the  prophets.  It  is  under  this  name 
that  his  followers  still  revere  him.     His  teaching  is 


1  This  year  of  the  flight  (the  Hegira)  is  the  first  year  of  the 
Mohammedan  era,  as  the  year  of  the  birth  of  Christ  is  the  first 
of  the  Christian  era. 


42  MEDLEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

inspired  in  part  by  the  Old  Testament  and  the  gospels. 
It  has  been  said  that  Mahomet  is  a  Christian  heretic 
and  Mahometanism  a  Christian  heresy  adapted  to  the 
usages  of  the  Arabs. 

The  Koran — Mahomet  did  not  know  how  to  write. 
Whenever  he  felt  himself  inspired  and  preached  his 
words  were  collected.  They  were  written  on  stones, 
on  leaves  of  the  palm-tree,  or  the  bones  of  a  camel. 
The  Koran  (the  Book)  is  the  combination  of  all  these 
fragments,1  added  one  after  another,  not  in  the  order 
in  which  they  were  dictated  by  Mahomet,  but  beginning 
with  the  longest.  It  was  brought  together  only  after 
the  death  of  Mahomet  by  his  secretary  Zaid.  Later 
the  Khalif  Othman  had  an  official  collection  made, 
and  it  is  this  that  we  now  possess.2 

The  Koran  contains  a  confused  mass  of  exhorta- 
tions, of  narratives,  precepts,  and  laws.  It  is  at  once 
a  religious  revelation,  a  guide  for  conduct,  a  code,  and 
a  constitution. 

Islamism. — The  religion  founded  by  Mahomet  is 
called  Islam  (resignation,  i.e.,  to  the  will  of  God). 
The  faithful  are  called  Mussulmans  (the  resigned). 
All  Islamism  is  summed  up  in  these  words :  "There  is 
but  one  God  and  Mahomet  is  his  prophet."  One  must, 
then,  believe  in  God  who  has  created  the  world  and 
who  governs  it  sitting  on  His  throne,  surrounded  by 
the  angels.  One  must  submit  himself  to  His  will  which 
He  makes  known  to  men  through  His  prophets.     His 

1  There  are  1,114  of  them.     Each  forms  a  chapter,  or  sura. 

2  Mussulmans  since  the  tenth  century  have  assumed  the  habit 
of  praising  the  elegance  of  the  language  of  the  Koran.  But  this 
admiration  is  strange  to  the  Arabs  of  the  early  centuries,  and 
an  expert  finds  that  the  majority  of  the  sections  of  the  Koran  are 
written  in  very  bad  Arabic. 


MOHAMMEDANISM  43 

behests  are  written  in  the  Koran,  "the  book  that  con- 
tains the  truth."  He  who  believes  in  the  Koran  and 
obeys  its  divine  precepts  becomes  well  pleasing  to  God 
and  will  receive  a  reward.  The  unbeliever  or  the  dis- 
obedient is  guilty  before  God  and  God  will  punish 
him. 

A  day  will  come  when  "the  earth  will  tremble  with 
violent  quaking,  the  day  when  men  will  be  scattered 
like  moths,  when  the  mountains  will  flit  like  flakes  of 
dyed  wool.  In  this  day  mankind  will  come  forth  in 
companies  to  contemplate  their  deeds.  The  unfaithful 
will  be  driven  in  multitudes  to  Gehenna,  and  when 
they  arrive  there  the  doors  will  open  to  them.  'Enter,' 
it  will  be  said,  'and  remain  here  eternally.'  The  believ- 
ing will  proceed  in  companies  to  Paradise,  and  when 
they  arrive  there  the  doors  will  open  to  them.  'Enter 
within  the  gates  of  Paradise,'  it  will  be  said  to  them, 
'to  dwell  here  eternally.'  Those  who  will  inhabit  the 
garden  of  delights  will  recline  on  couches  adorned 
with  gold  and  precious  stones  and  they  shall  meet  one 
another  face  to  face:  .  .  .  they  shall  be  served 
by  ageless  youth,  who  will  present  them  with  drinking 
cups.  They  shall  have  in  abundance  the  fruits  that 
they  desire  and  the  flesh  of  the  rarest  birds.  Near 
them  will  be  virgins  with  beautiful  black  eyes  like  black 
pearls  in  mother-of-pearl.  .  .  .  The  lost  shall  be 
in  the  midst  of  pestilential  winds  and  boiling  waters,  in 
a  dense  smoke  .  .  .  and  they  shall  drink  of  the 
steaming  water."  1 

The  cult  is  of  the  simplest.  The  faithful  is  to  pray 
five  times  a  day  at  certain  fixed  hours ;  in  every  Moham- 
1  Koran,  chap.  99,  101,  39. 


44  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

medan  city  the  hour  of  prayer  is  announced  from  the 
roof  of  the  mosque  by  a  crier  (the  muezzin).  The 
worshipper  is  to  bathe  himself  before  every  prayer ;  if 
water  is  not  accessible,  he  may  make  the  ablution  with 
sand.  He  must  fast  for  a  whole  month  (the  Rama- 
dan), eating  only  at  night,  "at  the  hour  when  one 
cannot  distinguish  a  white  thread  from  a  black  thread." 
He  must  give  in  alms  at  least  the  tenth  of  his  for- 
tune. He  should,  if  he  can,  go  on  pilgrimage  to  the 
holy  city  Mecca. 

Moral  instruction  limits  itself  to  a  few  prescriptions  : 
Do  nothing  dishonorable.  Drink  no  wine.  Lend  not 
money  at  usury.  Accept  without  murmur  the  will  of 
God,  for  every  man  has  his  destiny  predetermined  and 
he  cannot  by  any  means  resist  it.  Islamism  is  a  fatal- 
istic religion. 

The  Propagation  of  Islamism. — In  610  Mohammed 
commenced  his  mission :  at  the  time  of  his  death  all 
the  Arabs  were  Mussulmans.  They  had  been  converted 
half  by  persuasion,  half  by  force,  as  for  example  the 
people  of  the  tribe  of  the  Takifites.  They  had  pro- 
posed to  Mohammed  that  they  would  adopt  the  new 
religion  if  he  would  consent  to  dispense  with  prayers 
and  would  leave  them  for  three  years  their  idol  Lat. 
"Three  years  of  idolatry!  It  is  too  much!"  was  the 
reply  of  Mohammed.  The  Takifites  offered  then  to 
be  content  with  one  year.  Mohammed  accepted  the 
condition,  but  in  dictating  the  act  of  agreement  he 
repented  this  concession.  "I  can  no  longer  hear  of  this 
contract,"  he  cried ;  "you  must  choose  between  com- 
plete submission  or  war."  "Let  us  at  least  adore  Lat 
for  six  months."    "No."    "Then  for  one  month."  "Not 


MOHAMMEDANISM  45 

for  an  hour."    The  Takifites  surrendered;  Mussulman 
warriors  entered  the  city  and  destroyed  the  idol. 

After  the  death  of  Mohammed  the  Arabs  applied 
themselves  to  the  extension  of  the  faith  by  the  same 
means.  To  convert  the  other  peoples  they  sent,  not 
missionaries  as  the  Christians  did,  but  armies.  The 
prophet  himself  had  said,  "Fight  the  infidels  until  all 
resistance  ceases  and  the  religion  of  God  is  the  only 
one.  War  against  the  infidels  is  a  sacred  war ;  God  is 
with  the  combatants,  and  those  who  fall  in  battle  will 
pass  straight  to  Paradise."  The  Khalifs,  the  suc- 
cessors of  Mohammed,  waged  this  sacred  war.  To  all 
the  neighboring  peoples  they  sent  a  messenger  offering 
them  a  choice  between  three  things :  the  Koran,  tribute, 
or  the  sword.  Those  who  became  Mussulmans  became 
the  equals  of  the  old  believers ;  those  who  submitted 
themselves  to  tribute  would  become  subjects ;  those  who 
resisted  would  be  exterminated.  No  one  could  with- 
stand these  fanatical  armies.  In  the  East  they  con- 
quered Syria  and  Palestine,  all  the  Persian  empire. 
Armenia,  Turkestan,  and  a  part  of  India ;  in  the  West 
Egypt,  Tripoli,  Africa,  and  Spain.  Almost  all  the 
vanquished  were  converted,  so  that  there  were  no 
Christians  except  in  the  old  provinces  of  the  empire. 
In  less  than  a  century  (622-711)  the  new  religion  had 
extended  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Indus.  No  other 
religion  has  been  propagated  so  rapidly.  The  empire 
of  the  Khalifs  collapsed  almost  immediately,  but  all 
the  converted  countries  remained  Mussulman.  With 
the  exception  of  Spain,  Islamism  lost  no  territory,  and 
gained  more.  The  Turks  took  it  with  them  to  Con- 
stantinople.     In   our  day   it  has   made  proselytes   in 


46  MEDLEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

India,  in  China,  in  Malaysia,  and  especially  among 
the  negroes  of  Africa.  It  is  a  very  simple  religion, 
adapted  to  the  intelligence  of  orientals.  There  are 
today  more  than  200,000,000  Mussulmans.  While 
Christianity  became  the  religion  of  the  peoples  of  the 
north,  Mohammedanism  became  the  religion  of  the 
peoples  of  the  south. 


CHAPTER  V 
GOVERNMENT    OF    THE    BARBARIAN    KINGS 

THE    FIRST    BARBARIAN    KINGS 

Restoration  of  the  Imperial  Regime  Under  Theodoric. 

— The  barbarian  kings  established  in  the  empire  had 
no  desire  to  destroy  the  imperial  institutions ;  they  pre- 
ferred rather  to  assume  the  place  of  the  emperor,  to 
legislate,  judge,  levy  taxes — in  a  word,  to  govern  just 
as  the  emperor  had  governed.  This  was  the  aim  in  the 
fifth  century  of  the  kings  of  the  Burgundians,  the  Visi- 
goths, and  the  Vandals.  But  the  most  perfect  imita- 
tion was  made  by  Theodoric,  king  of  the  Ostrogoths 
in  Italy,  in  the  sixth  century.  He  had  a  palace  at 
Verona,  organized  like  the  court  of  the  emperor,  with 
a  Master  of  the  Palace,  a  Master  of  the  Chamber,  a 
Quaestor,  and  treasurers.  He  had  governors  and  lieu- 
tenants, and  he  levied  taxes.  The  Goths  remained 
warriors  and  constituted  the  army  under  the  command 
of  Gothic  dukes  and  counts. 

Under  this  regime  the  Italians  lived  at  peace  as 
under  the  empire.  The  king  had  the  aqueducts  re- 
paired, the  theatres,  and  the  baths ;  new  monuments, 
too,  were  constructed,  the  palace  of  Verona  and  the 
Basilica  of  Ravenna.  The  shows  were  revived,  the 
schools    of    rhetoric   were    reopened.     Now    appeared 

47 


48  MEDIAEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

the  last  of  the  Latin  poets  of  antiquity,  Boethius 
(4701-524). 

But  the  Goths  did  not  long  continue  this  regime. 
After  the  death  of  Theodoric,  as  the  queen  Amal- 
swintha  was  having  her  son  instructed  by  Roman 
teachers,  the  principal  warriors  came  to  demand  of  her 
that  the  child  be  taught  with  his  companions  to  hunt 
and  bear  arms  according  to  barbarian  custom.2 

Government  of  the  Merovingians. — The  Frankish 
kings  of  Gaul  were  more  barbarian  than  Theodoric ; 
yet  they  aimed  to  govern  in  Roman  fashion.  Clovis 
had  been  named  consul  and  patrician  by  the  emperor 
of  Constantinople;  and  so  he  appeared  at  Tours  clad 
in  the  purple  mantle  and  crowned  with  the  diadem. 
His  successors  partitioned  the  kingdom  as  if  it  were 
their  private  property;  but  each  had  his  court  in  his 
portion  of  the  kingdom.  He  sat  on  a  throne  of  gold, 
surrounded  by  officials  with  Roman  names — counts, 
chancellors,  chamberlains.  Some  entertained  poets  at 
their  courts — Venantius  Fortunatus,  for  example,  re- 
cently from  Italy,  who  composed  in  honor  of  the  mar- 
riage of  Brunhild  distorted  and  pretentious  verses  in 
which  he  introduced  Cupid  rejoicing  at  the  marriage 
of  Venus  and  declaring  that  Brunhild  was  as  beau- 
tiful as  the  goddess. 

King  Chilperic  himself  made  Latin  verses  that 
"limped  at  every  foot" ;  he  had  invented  some  new- 
letters,  ae,  6,  th,  and  w,  and  commanded  his  counts  to 

1  The  date  of  his  birth  is  uncertain.  Probably  480  is  more 
nearly  correct. — -Ed. 

1  The  Ostrogothic  kingdom  gradually  fell  through  the  hostility 
of  the  Italians  and  the  successful  attacks  of  the  armies  of  the 
Eastern  Empire. 


GOVERNMENT   OF   THE   BARBARIAN    KINGS     49 

erase  with  pumice  stone  the  parchments  of  the  books 
used  for  instruction  in  the  public  schools  that  they 
might  be  rewritten  with  these  new  letters.  He  occu- 
pied himself  also  with  theology,  maintaining  that  the 
Deity  should  be  designated  by  but  one  name.  "It  is 
thus,"  said  he  to  a  bishop,  "that  I  would  have  you 
believe,  you  and  the  other  doctors  of  the  church." 
When  his  envoys  brought  him  from  Constantinople 
cloths,  ornaments,  and  medals  of  gold,  he  had  them 
displayed  in  his  palace,  and  exhibited  at  the  same  time 
a  large  basin  of  gold  which  he  had  had  manufactured ; 
this  he  showed  boastfully  and  said :  "It  is  I  who  have 
had  it  made  to  adorn  and  dignify  the  nation  of  the 
Franks.  Ah!  I  shall  make  many  other  things,  if  I 
am  able." 

Weakness  of  the  Merovingians — These  imitations 
of  the  old  civilization  could  not  endure.  The  Franks, 
like  the  Goths,  were  too  barbarous  to  assimilate  the 
imperial  regime.  The  warriors  respected  the  kings 
because  they  were  of  the  Merovingian  race,  but  they 
obeyed  them  as  they  chose.  The  most  troublesome 
were  the  warriors  in  the  escort  of  the  king,  whom 
he  called  his  men  (leudes).  The  leudes  were  often 
masters  rather  than  the  king.  In  534  two  kings,  Childe- 
bert  and  Chlothar,  went  together  to  ravage  the  terri- 
tory of  Burgundy.  Theuderic  wished  to  remain  at 
home,  but  his  leudes  said  to  him,  "If  you  do  not  go 
to  Burgundy  with  your  brothers,  we  shall  leave  you 
and  follow  them."  Theuderic  was  compelled  to  lead 
them  to  the  plunder  of  Auvergne.  Later  a  warrior 
said  to  King  Guntram,  "We  know  where  is  the  freshly 
sharpened  axe  that  cut  off  the  heads  of  your  brothers ; 


50  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

« 

it  will  soon  clash  out  your  brains."  In  terror  Guntram 
said  one  day  to  the  faithful  assembled  at  the  church, 
"I  adjure  you,  men  and  women  here  present,  not  to 
assassinate  me  as  you  have  assassinated  my  brothers." 

These  undisciplined  warriors  consented  to  follow 
their  king  to  war  again,  because  they  hoped  to  return 
with  captives  and  booty.  But  they  had  no  thought  of 
paying  taxes.  Some  kings  sought  to  establish  the 
Roman  system  which  seemed  to  them  adapted  to  secure 
revenue.  Theudebert,  king  of  the  Austrasian  Franks, 
bade  his  minister  Parthenius  levy  a  tax;  as  soon  as 
the  king  was  dead  the  Franks  revolted  and  killed  Par- 
thenius in  the  church  of  Treves  (547). x  Thirty  years 
later  Chilperic  prepared  lists  of  property  and  ordered  a 
tax  on  lands  and  slaves.  In  the  following  years  the 
country  of  Chilperic  was  ravaged  by  inundations,  fires, 
and  epidemics.  The  king  lost  his  two  sons  and  was 
himself  at  the  point  of  death.  Everybody  believed  that 
God  was  punishing  Chilperic  for  the  crime  of  estab- 
lishing the  impost.  Queen  Fredegonde,  seeing  her 
children  ill,  cast  into  the  fire  the  tax-rolls  of  the  cities 
that  were  her  special  property,  and  when  her  husband 
hesitated  to  burn  his  she  said:  "What  stops  you?  Do 
as  you  have  seen  me  do,  so  that  if  we  lose  our  children 
we  at  least  may  escape  eternal  punishment"  (580). 
At  last,  in  614,  the  bishops  and  the  leudes  together 
obliged  King  Chlothar  to  declare  in  an  ordinance  that 
all  the  taxes  were  abolished. 

The  Barbarian  Laws — The  king  of  the  Franks  in 
the  seventh  century  was  the  king  of  all  Germany.    But 

1  Theudebert  died  in  548  (Smith- Wace  Diet,  of  Christian 
Biog.  IV,  900;   London,  1887). — Ed. 


GOVERNMENT   OF   THE   BARBARIAN    KINGS     51 

the  inhabitants  of  this  vast  domain  were  not  fused  into 
one  people.  Each  people  preserved  its  language  and 
its  customs.  There  was  not  even  a  law  common  to 
all.  For  more  than  three  centuries  (from  the  sixth  to 
the  ninth)  every  man  had  his  personal  law.  The  old 
inhabitants  of  the  empire  retained  the  Roman  law.  As 
for  the  barbarians,  each  followed  the  ancient  custom 
of  his  people.  These  customs,  codified  in  Latin  at 
various  times,  took  the  name  of  the  Laws  of  the  Bar- 
barians. There  were  the  Salic  law,  the  law  of  the 
Ripuarians,  the  law  of  the  Allemanni,  the  law  of  the 
Frisians,  the  law  of  the  Bavarians — as  many  laws  as 
there  were  peoples.  These  customs,  in  which  every- 
thing was  in  confusion,  included  some  chapters  on  the 
law  of  property  and  inheritance;  but  most  of  the  pre- 
scriptions concerned  what  was  to  be  done  in  case  of 
theft  or  violence. 

The  barbarians  did  not  conceive  that  quarrels  be- 
tween individuals  were  crimes  and  that  the  state  ought 
to  take  cognizance  of  them.  When  a  murder  was 
committed,  it  was  the  business  of  the  victim  or  his 
family  to  take  vengeance  on  the  murderer  or  on  his 
relatives.  Every  act  of  violence,  therefore,  led  to 
other  and  necessary  acts  of  violence  between  two  fami- 
lies, similar  to  the  vendetta  that  still  exists  in  Corsica. 
To  stop  this  family  strife  the  tribunal  forced  the  culprit 
to  pay  an  indemnity  to  the  relatives  of  the  victim,  who 
on  their  side  surrendered  their  right  of  blood  revenge. 
The  laws  of  the  barbarians  fixed  in  minute  detail  the 
tariff  of  these  indemnities.  Each  man,  according  to 
his  condition,  had  his  price,  which  they  called  Wergeld. 
If  he  were  killed,  the  murderer  had  to  pay  the  full 


52  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

price;  if  he  were  wounded,  a  part  of  the  price  was 
paid,  proportioned  to  the  gravity  of  the  injury.  "If 
any  one  strike  a  man  on  the  head  so  that  the  blood 
flows,  he  shall  pay  15  shillings  (of  gold)  ;  if  he  strike 
on  the  head  so  that  three  bones  protrude,  he  shall  pay 
30  shillings;  if  the  brain  exude,  45  shillings.  For  a 
foot,  a  hand,  or  a  nose  cut  off,  100  shillings  must  be 
paid ;  if  the  severed  hand  still  hang,  45  shillings ;  if  it 
be  wrenched  and  torn,  62  shillings.  If  the  thumb  or 
the  great  toe  be  cut  off,  the  fine  is  45  shillings ;  for  the 
second  finger,  with  which  the  bow  is  drawn,  35  shil- 
lings; for  the  third  finger,  15;  for  the  fourth,  5;  for 
the  little  finger,  15." 

In  the  courts  one  was  judged  according  to  the  law 
of  one's  people.  "It  is  not  rare,"  said  a  bishop  of 
Lyons  in  the  ninth  century,  "for  five  men  to  be  sitting 
together  and  no  one  of  them  to  have  the  same  law  as 
another." 


THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  CHARLES  THE 
GREAT 

The  Carolingians — The  kings  of  the  Franks  did  not 
succeed  in  making  docile  subjects  of  their  barbarians. 
On  the  contrary,  to  retain  their  fighting  chiefs  about 
them  they  gave  them  little  by  little  all  the  royal  do- 
mains. These  warriors,  now  become  great  proprietors, 
established  themselves  on  their  lands  with  their  slaves 
and  gave  obedience  to  nobody.  The  Merovingian  king 
was  now  nothing  but  an  obscure  and  isolated  character. 

In  the  east  of  the  kingdom  was  found  a  family  of 
great  proprietors,  respected  enough  to  command  the 


GOVERNMENT   OF   THE    BARBARIAN    KINGS     53 

obedience  of  the  warriors  of  their  country.  The  head 
of  this  family  secured  the  title  of  Duke  of  the  Franks. 
These  Franks  of  the  East,  energetic  and  well  disci- 
plined, fought  the  Franks  of  the  West;  their  duke 
became  the  mayor  of  the  palace  under  the  Merovin- 
gian king  and  was  the  real  master  in  the  whole  king- 
dom. At  the  end  of  half  a  century,  a  duke,  Pippin  the 
Short,  desired  to  possess  the  title  of  king.  Pope 
Zacharias  consulted  on  the  matter,  replied,  "He  who 
possesses  the  royal  power  ought  also  to  enjoy  its 
dignities  (752)."  Pippin  was  the  proclaimed  king 
of  the  Franks,  and  St.  Boniface  came  to  anoint  him  and 
his  wife  with  the  holy  oil.  The  Carolingians  became  in 
turn  a  royal  family,  venerated  by  the  people,  and  conse- 
crated by  the  church. 

Charles,  the  Emperor  of  the  West. — Charlemagne, 
the  son  of  Pippin,  was  the  mightiest  of  all  the  barbarian 
kings.  At  the  head  of  his  warriors  he  subjected  all 
the  peoples  of  Germany ;  he  advanced  to  the  east  as 
far  as  the  Elbe,  to  the  west  as  far  as  the  Ebro.  His 
empire  included  France,  Germany,  and  north  Italy.1 

At  this  time  the  popes  did  not  feel  secure  in  Italy, 
fearing Jhe  Lombards  and  the  Byzantine  emperor;  in 
Rome,  even,  they  were  not  strong  enough  to  always 
command  respect.  Pope  Leo  III  nearly  suffered  death 
in  a  riot ;  he  was  beaten,  trampled  under  foot,  and  com- 
pelled to  flee.  Several  times  the  popes  had  found  it 
necessary  to  invoke  the  aid  of  the  king  of  the  Franks 
(Pippin,  and  later  Charlemagne).  They  required  a 
powerful  protection ;  Charlemagne  manifested  a  dispo- 

1  To  say  nothing  of  the  Slavic  peoples  beyond  the  Elbe  who 
paid  tribute. 


54  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

sition  to  perform  this  service.  In  795  the  newly  elected 
pope,  Leo  III,  conveyed  to  him  the  keys  of  the  tomb 
of  St.  Peter  and  the  standard  of  the  city  of  Rome, 
beseeching  him  to  send  somebody  to  receive  in  his 
name  the  oath  of  fidelity  of  the  Roman  people.  Charles 
replied,  "  It  is  my  desire  to  make  an  inviolable  alliance 
with  you  of  fidelity  and  affection,  that  I  may  receive 
for  all  time  the  apostolic  benediction  of  Your  Holiness 
and  that  the  see  of  the  holy  Roman  church  may  be 
always  defended  by  my  devotion." 

In  800,  having  come  to  Rome,  Charles  was  crowned 
by  the  pope  and  proclaimed  emperor.  According  to 
the  account  of  Einhard,  Charles  had  not  expected  this 
ceremony;  the  act  was  due  to  the  pope  alone;  if  the 
king  had  known  what  was  to  occur,  he  would  not  have 
entered  the  church.1  Yet  he  consented  to  receive  the 
title  of  Emperor  of  the  Romans  and  Augustus ;  but, 
except  on  rare  occasions,  he  did  not  use  the  imperial 
regalia,  but  kept  his  Frankish  costume — linen  trousers 
drawn  together  with  bands,  a  woollen  tunic  secured  by 
a  belt,  and  a  large  mantle.  While  this  coronation  did 
not  augment  the  power  of  Charles,  it  was  nevertheless 
a  momentous  event.  From  this  time  there  was  an 
emperor  in  the  West  whom  the  pope  and  all  the 
bishops  recognized  as  their  sovereign  and  who  became 
the  acknowledged  protector  of  the  church.  There 
were  two  world  powers,  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor, 
who  together  governed  the  people  and  the  clergy.2 

1  The  time  and  place  were  probably  a  surprise  to  the  Franks; 
but  Charlemagne  had  given  serious  consideration  to  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Empire  in  the  West. — Ed. 

2  The  clear  statement  of  this  theory,  however,  was  a  later 
development. — Ed. 


GOVERNMENT   OF   THE   BARBARIAN    KINGS     55 

Government  of  the  Counts. — Charlemagne  did  not 
attempt  to  revive  the  regime  of  the  Roman  empire. 
The  great  proprietors  were  not  subjected  to  taxation ; 
the  emperor  found  the  great  revenues  of  his  private 
domain  sufficient  for  the  maintenance  of  his  court; 
his  army  cost  him  nothing.  He  concerned  himself, 
therefore,  solely  with  preserving  order,  with  giving 
judgment  in  his  tribunal,  and  with  assembling  his 
army  whenever  there  was  need.  They  were  the  counts 
who  performed  at  once  all  those  functions. 

There  was  a  count  in  every  city  (Tours,  Angers, 
Chartres,  for  example)  ;  usually  he  was  the  largest 
land-owner  of  the  country.  Throughout  his  territory, 
called  a  County,  the  count  governed  in  the  name  of  the 
king.  He  summoned  the  fighting  men  for  military 
expeditions ;  he  pursued  brigands,  then  very  numerous ; 
every  year  he  presided  over  several  courts  in  the  open 
air  at  which  the  land-owners  of  the  country  were 
present. 

Supervision  over  the  counts  was  necessary;  very 
powerful  and  independent  in  their  district — in  fact,  so 
independent  that  some  called  themselves  counts  by  the 
grace  of  God — they  used  their  power  to  oppress  the 
people.  "  Let  not  the  counts,"  say  the  capitularies 
of  Charles,  "  compel  free  men  to  mow  their  meadows 
or  reap  their  fields.  .  .  .  Let  them  not  seize  by 
force  or  by  trick  the  goods  of  the  poor." 

To  watch  the  counts,  envoys  of  the  king  called  missi 
dominici,  made  annual  circuits.  In  every  land  they 
assembled  the  people  and  asked  if  they  had  any  com- 
plaint to  make ;  then  they  compelled  the  count  to  do 
justice,  threatening  him  with  the  anger  of  the  king. 


56  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

When  the  king  was  no  longer  strong  enough  to  send 
out  the  missi,  every  count  became  a  little  sovereign 
and  every  county  a  miniature  state. 

The  Clergy  in  the  Government. — Bishops  and  abbots 
were  then  great  persons,  proprietors  of  immense 
domains. 

Under  Charlemagne  they  entered  into  the  gov- 
ernment. A  great  annual  assembly  was  held  at  the 
court  for  state  business,  and  at  this  the  bishops  and 
abbots  deliberated  with  the  counts  and  warriors, 
and  being  ordinarily  better  educated,  they  wrote  the 
laws. 

Each  city  had  its  count  and  its  bishop.  Charles 
made  the  bishop  the  equal  of  the  count  and  bade  them 
govern  in  common.  "  We  desire,"  said  he,  "  that  the 
bishops  aid  the  counts  and  the  counts  aid  the  bishops, 
to  the  end  that  every  man  may  completely  fulfil  his 
function."  The  bishop  was  to  excommunicate  brigands 
and  rebels,  the  count  was  to  use  constraint  against 
those  who  disobeyed  the  bishop.  In  return  for  the 
power  which  he  gave  the  clergy  the  emperor  himself 
became  the  head  of  the  church,  "the  bishop  of  bishops." 
"It  pertains  to  me,"  he  wrote  the  pope,  "to  defend  the 
holy  church  of  Christ  from  the  infidels  without,  and  to 
fortify  it  within  by  announcing  the  true  faith."  It  is 
the  emperor  who  names  the  bishops  and  the  abbots, 
and  it  is  he  who  presides  at  councils. 

The  Frankish  kings  did  not  have  a  discernment  fine 
enough  to  distinguish  the  temporal  power  from  the 
spiritual  power ;  they  confused  the  two  and  placed 
them  in  the  same  hand.  This  confusion  is  the  most 
original  characteristic  of  the  Carolingian  government. 


GOVERNMENT   OF   THE   BARBARIAN    KINGS     57 

It  was  destined  to  have  as  its  result  a  contest  for  several 
centuries  between  the  emperor,  the  head  of  the  state, 
and  the  pope,  the  head  of  the  church. 

The  cooperation  of  the  bishops  and  the  counts  did 
not  long  endure.  Already  in  811  Charles  says  in  a 
capitulary,  "At  first  we  desire  to  have  separate  con- 
ferences with  the  bishops  and  the  counts,  to  determine 
for  what  reason  they  do  not  wish  to  render  each  other 
mutual  assistance.  We  shall  discuss  then  and  decide 
to  what  degree  the  bishop  should  engage  in  secular 
affairs  and  to  what  degree  the  count  or  any  other  lay- 
man should  engage  in  the  business  of  the  church." 
Charles  was  thus  seeking  the  proper  boundary  between 
the  power  of  the  clergy  and  the  government.  It  was 
not  discovered  by  him  or  any  other  emperor  of  the 
Middle  Ages. 

The  Army. — Charlemagne  was  before  all  a  war 
chief.  During  his  life  he  made  fifty-three  expeditions. 
To  provide  for  these  incessant  wars  it  was  necessary 
that  the  people  should  be  an  army.  Following  the  cus- 
tom of  the  Germanic  peoples,  all  land-owners  were 
also  warriors.  When  the  king  had  determined  on 
war,  he  ordered  the  people  to  assemble  at  a  fixed  place ; 
the  command  coming  on  one  day,  it  was  required  that 
the  man  be  ready  on  the  next.  An  enormous  fine  (heer- 
bann)  was  assessed  on  those  who  failed  to  appear. 
Bishops  and  abbots  were  to  come  as  well  as  the  lay- 
men. A  letter  addressed  to  the  Abbot  of  Fulda  recites, 
"We  command  you  to  be  at  the  rendezvous  on  the 
twentieth  of  June  with  your  men  properly  armed  and 
equipped.  Repair  to  the  place  assigned  so  that  you 
may  be  able  to  fight  wherever  we  shall  command  you, 


58  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

— that  is  to  say,  with  your  arms,  your  equipment,  and 
provisions.  Each  horseman  shall  have  a  shield,  a 
lance,  a  sword,  a  dagger,  a  bow,  and  a  full  quiver. 
You  shall  have  on  your  baggage  carts  appliances  of 
different  sorts,  axes,  planes,  augers,  hatchets,  pick- 
axes, iron  shovels,  and  other  implements  necessary  to 
the  army.  You  will  provide  food  for  three  months, 
arms  and  clothing  for  six  months." 

Warriors  had  to  equip  and  arm  themselves  at  their 
own  expense.  Those  who  were  not  well-to-do  came 
on  foot,  equipped  with  a  long  shield.  But  those  who 
could  command  the  means  fought  on  horseback,  cov- 
ered with  iron  armor.  This  armor  was  not  new:  the 
Parthian  knights  had  already  employed  it ;  the  body  of 
cavalry  that  fought  in  the  Roman  army  in  the  fourth 
century  was  armed  in  the  same  fashion.  Since  the  war- 
riors were  free  to  equip  themselves  as  they  pleased,  they 
preferred  the  equipment  that  placed  them  most  out  of 
danger.  Thus  the  archers  disappeared  from  the  army, 
and  at  the  end  of  the  ninth  century  there  was  in  west- 
ern Europe  no  other  military  force  than  knights  clad 
in  armor.  They  are  the  knights  or  chevaliers  of  the 
Middle  Ages. 

Legislation. — The  capitularies  of  Charlemagne  are 
a  collection  of  all  that  was  written  by  his  government. 
They  are  circulars,  communications,  letters,  and  even 
the  expressions  of  some  simple  designs.  The  majority 
of  the  capitularies  were  only  the  product  of  circum- 
stances ;  but  there  were  also  among  them  laws  applica- 
ble to  the  whole  of  the  empire.  Some  of  them  were 
preserved  and  were  incorporated  into  the  customs  of 
the  people  of  the  Middle  Ages. 


GOVERNMENT   OF   THE   BARBARIAN    KINGS     59 

Letters  and  Schools. — Charlemagne  loved  letters 
with  that  naive  admiration  that  uncultured  men  often 
have  for  that  which  is  written;  he  loved  them  also 
because  they  seemed  to  him  inseparable  from  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  In  787  he  wrote  to  the  bishops  and  the 
abbots  of  his  kingdom,  "Let  it  be  known  to  Your  Dis- 
cretion that  after  deliberation  with  our  faithful  we  have 
determined  that  the  bishoprics  and  monasteries  under 
our  government,  besides  the  regular  life  and  the  prac- 
tice of  the  sacred  religion,  ought  also  to  apply  their 
zeal  to  the  study  of  letters  and  to  teach  them  to  those 
who  by  the  aid  of  God  can  learn  them.  .  .  .  That 
those  who  wish  to  please  God  in  their  lives  may  not 
neglect  to  please  Him  with  right  speaking.  But  in 
these  last  years,  when  you  have  written  us  from  many 
convents,  informing  us  that  the  brethren  who  live 
there  multiply  their  holy  prayers  for  us,  in  most  of 
these  letters  we  have  recognized  a  right  sense  but  an 
uncouth  discourse.  And  so  we  have  begun  to  fear 
that,  if  there  is  ignorance  in  the  manner  of  writing, 
there  may  be  much  less  intelligence  than  is  required  to 
interpret  the  Holy  Scriptures.  This  is  the  reason  that 
we  exhort  you  to  emulate  one  another  in  zeal  for  in- 
struction, to  the  end  that  you  may  discern  more  easily 
and  more  certainly  the  mysteries  of  the  sacred  writ- 
ings." As  a  consequence,  he  ordered  that  every  cathe- 
dral and  every  monastery  have  its  school.  At  his  own 
court  the  emperor  had  a  school  conducted  by  the  clergy 
of  his  chapel,  and  sometimes  he  himself  was  present 
at  the  lessons.  The  children  learned  to  read,  to  write  in 
Latin,  to  sing  the  offices,  and  it  was  from  among  these 
scholars  that  Charlemagne  took  his  bishops  and  abbots. 


60  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

Learned  men  were  also  the  favorites  with  the  em- 
peror, and  he  gathered  about  him  quite  a  little  academy. 
The  men  who  composed  it  took  each  the  name  of  a 
great  character  of  antiquity :  Alcuin  was  called  Horace ; 
Abelard  was  named  Augustine;  Angilbert,  Homer; 
Theodulf,  Pindar;  and  Charlemagne,  David.  They 
spent  the  time  composing  Latin  verses,  in  reading, 
reciting,  and  in  proposing  conundrums.  The  follow- 
ing is  a  series  drawn  from  the  works  of  Alcuin  :  "What 
is  writing?  The  keeper  of  history.  What  is  the  word? 
The  betrayal  of  thought.  What  originates  the  word? 
The  tongue.  What  is  the  tongue  ?  The  flail  that  beats 
the  air.  What  is  the  air?  The  preserver  of  life.  What 
is  life?  The  delight  of  the  happy,  the  grief  of  the 
despondent,  the  anticipation  of  death." 

The  works  of  these  learned  men  were  at  once 
affected  and  puerile,  like  pupils'  exercises.  The  bar- 
barians distrusted  themselves  too  much  to  venture  to 
be  original.  They  applied  all  their  ambition  to  the 
imitation  of  the  ancients.  And  so  they  did  not  succeed 
in  producing  works  of  permanent  vitality.  And  yet 
the  efforts  made  by  Charlemagne,  his  clergy,  and  his 
learned  men  have  not  been  entirely  lost :  for  almost 
two  centuries  there  was  nothing  in  Gaul  that  resembled 
a  literature ;  no  book  was  written,  not  even  a  chronicle ; 
official  acts  with  which  men  could  not  dispense  (con- 
tracts, gifts,  wills),  were  drawn  in  barbarous  Latin; 
writing,  even,  was  so  formless  that  there  is  great  diffi- 
culty in  deciphering  it.  From  the  time  of  Charlemagne 
the  Latin  became  very  correct  and  writing  very  legible, 
in  fact,  almost  as  legible  as  printed  books. 


GOVERNMENT   OF   THE   BARBARIAN    KIliGS     61 

End  of  Ancient  Civilization — The  ancient  world 
came  to  its  end  with  Charlemagne.  He  is  the  last 
sovereign  who  succeeded  in  enforcing  the  obedience 
of  all  the  peoples  of  the  West.  After  him  Europe  was 
divided  into  kingdoms,  and  each  kingdom  into  prov- 
inces where  each  lord  governed  according  to  his  will. 
The  Catholic  clergy  participated  in  government.  The 
pope  made  alliance  with  the  new  barbarian  emperor  of 
the  West  and  soon  they  came  into  conflict  with  him 
as  to  which  of  the  two  should  control  the  other.  It 
was  the  end  of  the  absolute  and  universal  government 
of  antiquity. 

Society  was  now  composed  only  of  warriors,  of 
monks,  of  peasants  and  serfs,  almost  all  established  in 
the  rural  districts.  It  was  the  end  of  the  ancient  city 
life. 

The  inhabitants  of  Europe  ceased  to  construct  the- 
atres, baths,  and  roads,  and  began  to  build  churches. 
It  was  the  end  of  ancient  art. 

Latin  became  the  language  of  scholars  only,  a  dead 
language.  In  Germany  and  in  England  a  Germanic 
tongue  was  spoken;  in  France,  in  Italy,  and  in  Spain 
a  new  language  sprung  from  the  Latin  was  spoken, 
the  Romance.  It  was  the  end  of  the  ancient  language 
and  literature. 

Europe  was  converted  to  Christianity;  Africa  and 
a  part  of  Asia  to  Islamism.  It  was  the  end  of  the 
ancient  religions. 

The  Germans  introduced  everywhere  their  customs 
and  their  judicial  procedure.  It  was  the  end  of  ancient 
law. 


62  MEDLEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

The  Byzantine  empire  alone  preserved  the  debris  of 
the  old  world.  In  the  West  everything  was  new — gov- 
ernment, society,  art,  language,  law,  religion.  Ancient 
civilization  was  extinct;  in  the  midst  of  the  general 
barbarism  modern  civilization  had  its  beginnings. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE   FEUDAL   SYSTEM 

FEUDAL    SOCIETY 

The  New  Classes — In  the  tenth  century  the  laws 
peculiar  to  the  different  barbarian  peoples  disappeared ; 
all  the  inhabitants  of  Europe  adopted  almost  the  same 
customs.  From  that  time  they  were  no  longer  dis- 
tinguished from  each  other  by  their  nationality,  but 
by  their  wealth  and  their  occupations;  they  were  no 
longer  spoken  of  as  Franks,  Romans,  or  Burgundians ; 
there  was  nothing  but  knights,  lords,  clergy  and  peas- 
ants. "The  house  of  God  is  triple,"  said  a  bishop  of  the 
twelfth  century,  "some  fight,  others  pray,  and  others 
work."  With  this  new  social  order  began  a  system 
which  lasted  until  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

The  Knights. — From  the  time  of  Charlemagne  all 
freemen  had  to  be  soldiers.  Some  Spaniards,  pursued 
by  Moslems,  having  come  and  settled  in  Languedoc, 
Louis  le  Debonnaire,  in  granting  to  them  lands,  added  : 
"That  like  all  other  freemen  they  go  into  the  army." 
Whoever  did  not  wish  to  serve  or  could  not  furnish 
his  equipment  ceased  to  be  truly  free.  Only  men-at- 
arms  were  considered  in  the  society  of  the  time. 

From  the  ninth  century  the  man-at-arms  always 
fought  on  horseback  (the  Latin  word  miles,  soldier, 
became  synonymous  with  knight  or  chevalier)  ;  he  was 

63 


64  MEDLEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

armed  with  a  steel  sword  and  a  long  lance  made  of  ash- 
wood  ;  to  ward  off  attack,  he  carried  a  long  buckler 
made  of  wood  and  covered  with  leather,  called  a  shield. 
In  battle  he  was  clothed  in  a  tunic  covered  with  iron 
rings.  At  the  close  of  the  eleventh  century  this  tunic 
was  replaced  by  a  coat  of  mail  entirely  composed  of 
iron  links  or  rings,  and  which  extended  from  the  chin 
to  the  knee.  This  was  called  the  hauberk.  The  head 
was  protected  by  a  helmet  of  steel,  and  the  nose  by  a 
nose-piece  of  the  same  metal.  This  equipment  was 
heavy  and  complicated.  Long  practice  was  necessary 
to  enable  one  to  make  use  of  it,  and  a  servant  was 
needed  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  the  shield,  and  to 
lace  the  helmet  and  the  hauberk.  This  servant  was 
called  a  squire  or  equerry,  from  ecuyer  (shield-bearer). 

In  the  eleventh  century  these  men-at-arms  succeeded 
in  forming  an  hereditary  class.  In  a  family  of  knights 
the  sons  became  knights,  the  daughters  married  none 
but  knights,  and  it  was  necessary  to  be  the  son  of  a 
knight  in  order  to  have  the  right  to  be  armed  as  a 
knight.  To  be  a  knight  was  no  longer  a  profession, 
but  a  dignity.  The  knights  were  no  longer  contented 
to  be  freemen,  they  called  themselves  gentlemen  (men 
of  race)  or  nobles,  and  even  their  domestics,  the 
squires,  entered  this  privileged  class ;  from  the  thir- 
teenth century  the  words  knight  and  squire  were 
synonymous  with  the  word  noble. 

The  Lords. — In  that  thoroughly  military  society 
every  important  person  was  a  man-at-arms,  even  the 
counts,  the  dukes,  and  the  kings.  There  were  then 
among  the  knights  many  large  proprietors.  They  had 
received  as  a  gift  from  the  king,  or  as  a  heritage  from 


THE   FEUDAL   SYSTEM  65 

their  parents,  large  domains,  at  least  one  whole  village, 
almost  always  several  villages.  According  to  the 
country,  these  great  freeholders  were  called  barons 
(that  is  to  say,  men),  sires  or  seigniors1,  rich  men, 
in  German  Herr,  in  Latin  dominus2  (that  is  to  say, 
proprietors.)  The  wife  was  called  dame  (domina,  mis- 
tress, lady).  Being  rich,  they  could  take  other  knights 
into  their  service,  and  go  to  war  at  the  head  of  a  small 
troop.  To  rally  their  men  they  had  a  flag,  the  banner, 
therefore  they  were  called  bannerets. 

Homage  and  Fealty. — From  the  time  of  Charle- 
magne the  barbarian  warriors  followed  the  custom  of 
swearing  fidelity  to  the  chief  who  maintained  them,  and 
fighting  for  him  alone.  The  warrior  in  taking  this 
oath,  and  the  chief  in  receiving  it,  were  bound  together 
for  life ;  the  chief  called  the  warrior  my  faithful  friend, 
my  man,  or  my  vassal;  the  vassal  called  his  chief  my 
lord.  The  vassal  accompanied  his  lord  to  war,  and 
served  him  even  at  table ;  he  was  at  the  same  time  a 
domestic  and  a  companion-in-arms.  The  lord  paid 
him  for  his  services  by  feeding  him,  furnishing  him 
arms,  clothing,  and  a  horse;  sometimes  he  gave  him 
a  domain. 

The  custom  of  paying  vassals  by  giving  lands  to 
them  became  general  in  France  at  the  end  of  the  ninth 
century,  perhaps  because  in  France  men-at-arms  were 
rare.  The  land  given  in  payment  was  called  a  fief. 
Soon  it  was  an  absolute  rule  that  every  vassal  was  to 
receive  a  fief,  and  that  one  could  not  possess  a  fief  with- 
out becoming  the  vassal  of  the  proprietor.     When  the 

1  Seigneur,  in  English,  sir. 

2  From  this  comes  the  Spanish  don. 


66  MEDIAEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

vassal  died  his  son  had  the  right  to  take  his  place.  The 
knights  thus  established  on  their  fief  from  father  to  son 
became  almost  independent  of  their  suzerain.  In  their 
turn  the  lords  took  an  oath  to  the  lords  more  powerful 
than  themselves,  and  declared  that  they  had  received 
their  lands  in  fief.  The  dukes  and  the  counts  took  an 
oath  to  the  king  who  had  given  them  their  seigniories 
in  fief.  Almost  all  the  lords  were  at  the  same  time 
suzerains  and  vassals.  Almost  all  the  lands  were  con- 
sidered as  held  in  fief.1  Hence  the  name  feudal  system. 
This  system,  organized  in  the  tenth  century,  had  little 
resemblance  to  the  bands  of  Charlemagne's  time,  al- 
though the  names  and  customs  remained  the  same. 
The  vassal  still  took  an  oath,  which  bound  him  for 
life ;  this  was  the  homage,  so  named  because  it  made  the 
vassal  the  man  of  the  suzerain.  The  usual  formula  is 
this :  ''Sire,  I  become  your  man,  liege  of  such  a  fief, 
and  I  promise  to  guard  and  protect  you  from  all  men 
living  or  dead."  The  vassal  promised  fidelity,  aid,  and 
counsel  to  the  suzerain. 

Fidelity,  that  is,  not  to  injure  him,  nor  fight  against 
him,  not  to  attack  his  wife  or  his  children. 

Aid,  that  is,  to  aid  him  by  fighting  for  him,  or  by 
lending  him  his  fortified  house,  or  even  by  lending  him 
money. 

Counsel,  that  is  to  say,  to  come  to  him  for  the  pur- 
pose of  giving  him  counsel,  and  especially  to  aid  him 
in  pronouncing  judgment. 

These  duties  kept  on  growing  less  and  the  homage 
ended  by  being  nothing  more  than  a  mere  formality. 

1  There  remained  still  much  land  that  was  free  from  all  duties 
to  a  higher  lord. 


THE    FEUDAL   SYSTEM  67 

In  the  eleventh  century,  Geoffrey  d'Anjou,  after  hav- 
ing conquered  and  captured  Thibaut  de  Blois,  forced 
him  to  give  up  to  him  in  fief  his  county  of  Tours  and 
then  vowed  homage  to  his  prisoner. 

The  Clergy. — The  clergy,  respected  as  servants  of 
God,  were  also  powerful  through  their  wealth.  It 
was  then  believed  that  to  give  money  or  lands  to  the 
church  was  the  surest  means  of  effacing  sins  and  of 
saving  the  soul.  The  patron  saint  of  the  church  and  the 
monks  who  served  him  recompensed  the  donor  by  inter- 
ceding with  God  for  him.  In  a  deed  of  gift  in  favor 
of  a  church  consecrated  to  St.  Stephen  (1145) 
is  found :  "I  have  given  to  the  glorious  martyr  Stephen 
a  part  of  my  terrestrial  inheritance,  so  that  his  prayers 
and  those  of  his  servants  may  secure  for  me  the  par- 
don of  my  sins  and  eternal  salvation."  The  acts  of 
donation1  begin  with  the  formula :  "For  the  recovery 
of  my  soul  and  of  the  souls  of  my  ancestors" ;  often 
is  added,  "for  the  burial  of  my  body,"  as  gifts  were 
made  in  order  to  gain  the  favor  of  being  interred  in 
the  church  itself.  The  clergy  sometimes  received  en- 
tire villages,  gifts  of  the  great  lords,  sometimes  domains 
or  pieces  of  land,  as  gifts  of  the  knights  and  of  the 
peasants.  A  convent  which  had  been  founded  with  a 
single  domain  was  soon  the  possessor  of  hundreds  of 
villages.  The  bishops  and  the  abbots,  masters  of  these 
immense  domains,  became  very  great  seigniors. 

The  Villeins. — During  the  wars  of  the  ninth  century 
all  the  proprietors,  or  freeholders,  who  were  obliged 

1  These  acts  drawn  up  as  charters  were  copied  by  the  monks 
on  the  register  of  the  convent,  which  was  called  the  "cartu- 
laire,"  or  the  "chartrier." 


68  MEDIAEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

to  enter  the  army  had,  little  by  little,  become  knights. 
The  land  then  belonged  to  the  churches,  the  lords,  and 
the  knights,  all  great  proprietors,  who  did  not  cultivate 
it  themselves ;  it  was  divided  into  great  domains  called 
villes  (Latin  villa,  domain).  In  general  a  ville1  was 
what  we  would  call  a  village,  and  the  domain  had  the 
extent  of  a  commune.  Almost  all  the  French  villages 
trace  their  origin  to  one  of  these  domains  of  the  Middle 
Ages. 

The  peasants  who  lived  in  these  towns  or  villes 
had  taken  their  name  from  the  word  "ville,"  and  were 
called  villeins.  They  were  not  proprietors  of  the  soil, 
they  only  cultivated  it.  Some  of  them  were  formerly 
poor  freemen,  who  had  gone  into  the  service  of  the 
proprietors  as  coloni,  that  is  to  say,  as  farmers ;  they 
were  called  francs  (freemen).  Others  were  descend- 
ants of  former  slaves  of  the  proprietors  and  still  bore 
the  Roman  name  of  slave;  they  were  the  serfs  (servi). 
However,  the  serf  was  no  longer  the  same  as  the 
Roman  slave ;  he  belonged  to  the  estate,  he  had  a 
family,  a  house,  and  a  field.  His  master  could  neither 
take  him  from  his  village  in  order  to  sell  him  away 
from  the  domain,  nor  take  from  him  his  wife  or  his 
children,  nor  take  away  his  house  and  his  field  which 
had  been  granted  to  his  ancestors.  The  serf  villein 
was  not  much  inferior  in  rank  to  the  franc  or  free 
villein. 

Condition  of  the  Villeins — In  the  great  domains  of 
the  Middle  Ages  there  were  two  kinds  of  lands.  One 
kind,  the  larger  portion,  had  been  ceded  to  the  peasants 

1  A  seignior  usually  was  possessed  of  several  villes,  some- 
times isolated,  sometimes  contiguous. 


THE   FEUDAL   SYSTEM  69 

who  cultivated  it  and  kept  the  produce;  the  other, 
which  was  around  the  house  of  the  master,  belonged 
to  the  proprietor,  and  the  peasants  were  obliged  to 
plow,  to  sow,  and  to  reap  it  for  his  benefit.  In  our 
day  those  who  cultivate  the  soil,  when  they  are  not  the 
owners,  are  day-laborers  or  lessors;  in  the  Middle 
Ages  they  were  at  the  same  time  farmers  on  their  own 
lands  and  day-laborers  on  the  lands  of  the  proprietor; 
this  condition  was  hereditary.  The  proprietor  could 
not  take  back  the  land  which  they  occupied.  It  was  a 
heritage.  However,  in  exchange  they  endured  many 
burdens.1 

I.  They  owed  to  the  proprietor  certain  rent-charges 
(the  quit-rents),  taxes  (the  villein  tax),  a  periodical 
payment  of  dues  in  wheat,  oats,  eggs,  and  poultry; 
these  were  called  customs,  because  they  were  regulated 
by  usuage,  and  the  peasants  distinguished  the  good 
customs,  i.e.,  those  established  of  old,  from  the  bad 
customs,  which  a  suzerain  established  by  force  and 
contrary  to  ancient  usage. 

II.  They  had  to  work  on  the  land  of  the  proprietor, 
to  plow,  to  harvest,  to  store  in  the  granaries,  to  mow, 
to  winnow,  to  cut  wood,  to  bring  straw;  this  was  the 
corvee. 

III.  They  had  to  take  their  grain  to  the  seignior's 
mill  to  be  ground,  their  bread  had  to  be  baked  in  the 
seignior's  ovens,  their  vintage  had  to  be  taken  to  his 
wine-press,  and  for  this  service  imposed  upon  them 
they  were  obliged  to  pay.     In  the  market  they  had  to 

1  These  burdens  were  later  improperly  called  feudal  rights; 
they  had  nothing  of  feudality,  for  the  lands  of  the  peasants 
were  not  fiefs,  they  were  derived  from  the  right  of  ownership 
and  are  of  the  same  nature  as  our  quit-rents. 


70  MEDIAEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

use  the  measures  and  weights  of  their  seignior,  and 
they  had  to  pay  for  this  usage. 

IV.  They  were  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  lord 
of  the  land.  If  they  committed  an  offense  he  made 
them  pay  a  fine  for  his  benefit,  and  if  they  committed  a 
crime  he  condemned  them  to  death1  and  confiscated 
their  possessions.  The  judgment,  that  is,  the  right  of 
levying  these  fines,  afforded  an  income  for  the  benefit 
of  the  lord  of  the  land.  It  figures  in  the  enumeration 
of  his  possessions.  The  lord  said,  "my  jurisdiction" 
of  such  a  domain.  He  sold  it,  gave  it  in  fief,  divided  it 
among  his  children;  it  was  not  unusual  for  a  lord 
to  possess  one-half  or  one-fourth  of  the  jurisdiction  of 
a  village  or  of  several  household  establishments.  As  a 
sign  of  authority  the  lord  erected  on  his  land  a  gibbet ; 
it  was  called  the  forked  gibbet,  or  gallows ;  the  robbers 
who  were  hung  upon  it  were  an  expressive  testimo- 
nial of  this  authority.  When  two  lords  disputed  over 
the  jurisdiction  of  a  village  (as  often  happened)  the 
domestics  of  the  disputing  seignior  came,  took  down 
the  man  who  was  hung  and  put  him  on  the  gallows  of 
their  master.  If  the  case  was  decided  in  favor  of  the 
lord  who  had  condemned  the  man,  then  the  body  of 
the  victim  was  returned,  or  in  default  of  that  a  shirt 
stuffed  with  straw  to  represent  the  criminal,  and  the 
body  or  its  effigy  was  hung  once  more  upon  the  gibbet. 
The  villeins  were  entirely  subject  to  their  lord ;  they 
had  not  the  right  of  assembling,  even  for  the  purpose 
of  regulating  their  own  affairs ;  if  they  did  so,  the  lord 
levied  upon  them   a  heavy  tax.     He  was  their   sole 

1  Except  in  Normandy,  where  the  right  of  condemning  to 
death  belonged  only  to  the  duke. 


THE   FEUDAL   SYSTEM  71 

judge.  "If  you  take  anything  from  your  villein  over 
and  above  the  legitimate  taxes,'  said'  a  jurisconsult  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  you  take  it  at  the  peril  of  your 
soul,  like  a  brigand ;  but  between  you  and  your  villein 
there  is  no  judge  but  God."  1  The  villeins  were,  how- 
ever, in  a  much  less  precarious  condition  than  were 
the  slaves  of  ancient  times,  but  they  were  not  yet  really 
free.  The  knights  scorned  them,  because  they  worked 
the  land  and  were  without  arms;  in  their  mouths  the 
word  villein  became  an  insult  and  signified  a  craven. 

MANNERS 

Wars. — The  knights  were  accustomed  to  fight  among 
themselves;  this  usage  became  a  rule.  Every  man-at- 
arms  had  the  right  to  make  war;  for  an  insult,  for  a 
dispute  over  a  domain,  the  knight  sent  his  glove  to  his 
adversary,  or  perhaps  he  sent  some  hair  from  his  fur 
mantle;  that  was  a  challenge,  a  declaration  of  war. 
The  vassals  and  the  relatives  of  the  two  enemies  were, 
willingly  or  unwillingly,  enlisted  in  the  war.  They 
fell  upon  the  domains  of  the  enemy,  carried  off  the 
flocks  of  his  peasants,  burned  their  houses,  besieged 
his  castle,  and  sought  to  take  him  prisoner  for  the 
purpose  of  making  him  pay  a  ransom. 

War  thus  conducted  became  a  game,  a  business. 
The  game  was  not  dangerous  for  men  armed  in  coats 
of  mail.    Orderic  Vital  describes  the  battle  of  Bremule 


1  The  revolts  of  the  peasants  were  rare  in  the  Middle  Ages. 
We  only  know  of  one  in  Normandy  in  997,  and  that  of  the 
Jacquerie  in  the  fourteenth  century.  This  does  not  prove  that 
the  peasants  were  happy,  but  that  they  had  no  hope  of  bettering 
their  condition. 


72  MEDIAEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

(1119)  between  the  King  of  France  and  the  King  of 
England  as  follows:  "140  knights  remained  prisoners 
in  the  hands  of  the  conqueror;  but  of  900  engaged  in 
battle  I  know  of  three  only  who  were  killed.  In  fact, 
they  were  completely  clothed  in  iron ;  and  as  much 
through  the  fraternity  of  arms  as  through  the  fear  of 
God  did  they  spare  each  other,  seeking  less  to  kill  than 
to  take  prisoners."  The  knights  often  found  it  more 
convenient  to  levy  a  contribution  on  the  peasants  and 
on  the  merchants,  and  the  war  was  turned  into  brig- 
andage. There  were  in  all  countries  knights  like 
Sir  Thomas  de  Marie,  who  stopped  the  merchants  on 
the  highways,  took  their  baggage  and  goods,  shut 
them  up  in  the  prison  of  his  castle  and  tortured  them 
in  order  to  force  them  to  redeem  themselves  by  paying 
a  ransom. 

The  right  to  make  war  continued  in  many  provinces 
until  the  fifteenth  century.  The  knights  did  not  want 
to  give  up  this  right ;  war  filled  their  lives.  For  exam- 
ple, we  see  how  Fouque,  Count  d'Anjou,  sums  up  the 
career  of  his  uncle  Geoffrey :  "My  uncle  was  made  a 
knight  during  the  lifetime  of  his  father,  and  served  his 
first  campaign  against  his  neighbors ;  he  fought  twice, 
once  with  the  Count  de  Poitou,  once  with  the  Count 
du  Maine,  and  took  them  prisoners.  He  also  made 
war  against  his  father.1  After  the  death  of  his  father, 
having  entered  into  possession  of  his  heritage,  the 
county  of  Anjou,  he  made  war  against  the  Count  de 
Blois,  whom  he  took  prisoner  with  one  thousand  of  his 

1  This  time  Geoffrey  was  forced  to  submit,  his  father  following 
an  old  Germanic  custom,  obliged  him  to  come  and  present  him- 
self before  him,  on  all  fours  with  a  saddle  on  his  back. 


THE    FEUDAL   SYSTEM  73 

knights,  forcing  him  to  give  up  Touraine.  Then  he 
made  war  on  William  of  Normandy,  the  Count  de 
Bourges,  the  Count  de  Poitou,  the  Viscount  de  Thou- 
ars,  the  Count  de  Nantes,  the  Breton  counts  de  Rennes 
and  de  Hugues,  and  the  Count  du  Maine,  who  had 
broken  his  pledge  of  fidelity.  On  account  of  these 
wars,  and  the  courage  that  he  had  shown,  he  was  sur- 
named  Martel.  His  end  was  righteous.  The  night 
before  his  death,  renouncing  chivalry  and  the  things  of 
the  world,  he  became  a  monk  of  the  convent  of  St. 
Nicholas  which  his  father  and  himself  had  builf  and 
richly  endowed,  thus  showing  their  devotion  to  the 
church. 

Donjons  and  Castles — The  knights  in  these  war- 
like times  were  obliged  to  fortify  their  mansions.  In 
the  tenth  century  the  mode  of  fortifying  was  rude. 
There  was  a  ditch  protected  on  the  outside  by  a  talus 
furnished  with  a  stockade.  In  the  middle  of  this  en- 
closure was  an  elevation  of  ground.  The  mansion  of 
the  suzerain,  built  on  the  summit  of  this  elevation,  was 
as  yet  only  a  strong  wood  tower,  the  entrance  door  of 
which  was  some  feet  above  the  level  of  the  ground. 
This  door  was  not  accessible  save  by  passing  over  a 
movable,  sloping  plank,  which  extended  from  the  door 
across  to  the  other  side  of  the  ditch.  To  prevent  the 
enemy  from  burning  the  tower  it  was  kept  covered 
with  skins  newly  stripped  from  beasts.  This  rude 
citadel  was  the  donjon,  the  house  of  the  master.  The 
other  buildings  constructed  within  the  walls  at  the  foot 
of  this  elevation,  the  lodgings  for  the  servants,  the 
stables,  the  granaries,  were  only  annexes. 

In  the  eleventh  century  they  began  (in  the  South  at 


74  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

first)  to  replace  the  stockade  and  the  wooden  tower 
with  a  wall  and  a  tower  of  stone,  such  as  the  Romans 
had  around  their  fortified  cities.  These  fortresses  were 
called  by  a  Latin  name,  castel  or  chateau  (a  small  forti- 
fied place).  The  castles  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth 
centuries  was  a  stone  wall  flanked  by  towers,  sur- 
rounded on  all  sides  by  deep  ditches  or  by  precipices. 
It  was  constructed,  if  possible,  on  a  naturally  strong 
position,  on  the  brow  of  a  hill  or  on  a  perpendicular 
rock ;  in  a  level  country  it  was  built  on  an  artificial  ele- 
vation; they  taxed  their  ingenuity  to  add  to  the  de- 
fenses. On  arriving,  the  enemy  first  formed  in  front 
of  the  ditch,  an  advanced  work,  the  barbican ;  then 
came  the  ditch  or  moat,  which  the  inhabitants  of  the 
castle  crossed  by  means  of  a  drawbridge,  suspended 
by  chains,  then  a  stockade.  Then  only  were  they  at 
the  foot  of  the  walls,  which  were  made  very  thick. 
The  defenders,  posted  on  a  platform  which  ran  along 
the  inside  of  the  wall  near  the  top,  hurled  arrows,  jave- 
lins and  stones  through  the  battlements  (open  spaces 
along  the  top  of  the  wall),  and  through  the  machicola- 
tions.1 The  enceinte  or  walls  enclosed  the  lodgings  of 
the  soldiers,  the  servants,  and  of  the  men  of  the  cas- 
tle, the  kitchens,  the  stables,  the  granaries,  the  chapel 
and  the  master's  house  or  donjon.  This  donjon  was 
a  colossal  tower  (the  tower  of  Beaugency,  built  in  the 
eleventh  century,  was  40  metres  high  and  24  in  diam- 
eter; that  of  Coney  [thirteenth  century]  was  64  metres 
high  and  31  in  diameter).    In  this  tower  was  the  great 

1  In  the  thirteenth  century  the  machicolation  in  stone  sup- 
planted the  ancient  "hourds,"  or  galleries  of  wood  which  had 
been  suspended  in  front  of  the  walls  so  as  to  hang  over  the  be- 


THE   FEUDAL   SYSTEM  75 

reception  hall,  where  the  lord  welcomed  his  guests 
(only  the  great  lords  had  a  hall  of  ceremony  [le  palais] 
outside  of  this  donjon)  ;  there  were  also  the  sleeping- 
room  of  the  lord  and  the  rooms  for  his  family,  his 
treasury,  his  record-office  (the  archives).  At  the  sum- 
mit of  the  donjon  was  a  platform  whence  the  sentinel 
surveyed  the  environs;  below,  two  stories  underground, 
was  the  sombre  and  humid  prison,  which  was  entered 
by  means  of  a  ladder.  If  the  enemy  forced  the  walls, 
the  besieged,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  the  donjon, 
could  defend  it  foot  by  foot,  story  by  story,  so  narrow 
was  the  winding  stairway. 

The  lord  lived  in  his  castle  and  at  last  took  its 
name;  he  was  called  Bouchard  de  Montmorency,  or 
Enguerrand  de  Coucy.  The  knight,  too,  had  his  forti- 
fied house,  the  manor  (the  residence),  and  the  name 
of  his  domain  became  the  name  of  his  family.1 

Chivalry. — The  arms  of  the  knight  were  heavy, 
practice  was  necessary  to  learn  how  to  wield  them ; 
they  were  a  privilege,  and  could  not  be  borne  without 
permission.  No  one  was  born  a  knight,  not  even  the 
king.  This  rule  was  absolute.  Only  after  a  certain 
apprenticeship  and  a  ceremony  of  consecration  could 
one  become  a  knight.  The  young  noble  must  practise 
riding  horseback,  wielding  a  lance  or  a  sword,  and 
how  to  mount  a  ladder.  Sometimes  he  served  as 
apprentice  in  the  house  of  his  father,  sometimes  his 
father  sent  him  to  the  castle  of  another  seignior,  one 
of  his  friends.     The  young  man  became  a  squire  or 

1  The  name  of  the  estate  is  however  not  indispensable  in 
order  to  be  noble;  there  were  nobles,  who  were  called  Henri 
Chair  de  Vache,  Miles  Pied  de  Loup,  Chauderon,  Tueur  de  Loups, 
etc. 


76  MEDLEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

valet,1  that  is,  a  servant;  he  carried  the  arms  of  his 
master,  led  and  cared  for  his  horse,  put  on  his  armor, 
served  him  at  table,  and  put  him  to  bed.  The  ancient 
nations  had  regarded  it  as  the  greatest  dishonor  to 
serve  another  man.  Since  the  arrival  of  the  barbarians, 
to  serve  had  become  an  honor;  the  squire  served  the 
knight,  the  knight  served  his  suzerain  lord,  the  counts 
and  the  dukes  served  the  king  at  table  and  on  all  cere- 
monious occasions. 

Arrived  at  the  age  of  manhood,  a  squire  had  to  be 
solemnly  received,  by  a  knight,  into  the  corps  of 
knights.  At  first  the  ceremony  was  very  simple :  the 
knight  delivered  to  the  novice  the  arms  of  a  knight,  the 
shield,  the  hauberk,  and  the  lance ;  then  he  gave  him  a 
sharp  blow  with  his  fist  (the  accolade)  on  the  back  of 
the  neck.  The  new  knight  leaped  into  the  saddle,  put 
spurs  to  his  horse  for  a  short  gallop,  and  sometimes 
fenced  with  his  lance  against  a  mannikin  erected  before 
the  castle.  This  ceremony  was  called  "dubbing,"  or 
consecrating  the  knight. 

Later,  about  the  thirteenth  century,  religious  cere- 
monies were  added ;  passing  the  night  in  prayer  in  the 
church,  the  mass,  the  prayers,  the  sermon  addressed 
to  the  candidate.  As  for  the  pompous  usages  of  recep- 
tion, such  as  are  described  in  modern  romances,  they 
hardly  came  into  use  until  the  fifteenth  century. 

Every  squire  had  the  right  to  become  a  knight.  But 
he  must  be  rich  enough  to  purchase  his  equipment  and 
to  support  a  squire  and  the  usual  servants.  Therefore 
the  greater  number  of  noble  gentlemen  remained 
squires  all  their  lives. 

1  Valet  and  squire  were  synonymous.  Page  at  that  epoch 
designated  the  inferior  domestics. 


THE   FEUDAL   SYSTEM  77 

Manners  of  the  Knights. — The  noblemen  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  were  not  distinguished  from  the  peasants, 
either  by  their  polite  manners  or  by  their  education. 
The  greater  part  could  not  read ;  they  did  nothing  but 
drink,  eat,  hunt,  and  fight;  they  were  usually  brutal 
and  violent,  often  ferocious.  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion, 
the  model  of  knighthood,  massacred  2,500  Saracen 
prisoners.  In  a  war  with  Philip  Augustus  he  ordered 
that  fifteen  knightly  prisoners  should  have  their  eyes 
put  out,  then  he  sent  them  to  the  King  of  France, 
giving  to  them  as  a  guide  one  of  their  number  who  had 
lost  but  one  eye.  Philip  Augustus,  in  response,  put 
out  the  eyes  of  fifteen  knights  whom  he  had  taken 
from  Richard,  and  sent  them  back  to  their  master  under 
the  guidance  of  a  woman;  "so  that,"  says  his  pane- 
gyrist, "no  one  could  think  him  inferior  to  Richard  in 
courage  and  in  strength,  or  believe  that  he  was  afraid 
of  him."  In  11 19  a  great  Norman  lord,  Eustache  de 
Bertrail,  son-in-law  of  the  King  of  England,  ordered 
the  eyes  of  one  of  his  hostages  put  out ;  a  nobleman, 
the  father  of  the  victim,  caused  the  daughters  of 
Eustache  to  be  delivered  to  him  by  their  grandfather, 
put  out  their  eyes  and  cut  off  their  noses.  These  acts 
of  savage  violence  were  still  frequent  in  the  fourteenth 
and  fifteenth  centuries. 

This  adventurous  life  rendered  the  knights  fero- 
cious ;  but  it  gave  them  some  virtues  demanded  by  war : 
it  made  them  courageous  and  proud.  The  accom- 
plished knight  of  whom  poets  sang,  and  whom  all 
wished  to  imitate,  was  the  "preux,"  or  the  "prud- 
'homme."  When  a  knight  was  armed  he  was  ad- 
dressed,   "Be  preux"    (valiant).     The   "preux"   is  a 


78  MEDIAEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

brave  man,  proud  and  loyal,  who  never  retreats,  who 
never  fails  to  keep  his  word,  and  who  never  endures 
an  insult.  Bravery,  loyalty  and  pride  were  henceforth 
and  would  ever  remain  the  chief  traits  of  the  noble- 
man. Bravery  was  esteemed  not  only  for  the  service 
it  rendered,  but  because  it  was  thought  to  be  beautiful 
in  itself.  The  knight  would  let  himself  be  killed  use- 
lessly rather  than  to  be  suspected  of  cowardice.  "Mieux 
vaudrait  etre  mort  que  couard  appele"  (Better  be  dead 
than  to  be  called  a  coward),  says  an  old  poem.  The 
knight  had  to  be  loyal,  to  keep  his  word.  He  was 
especially  dishonored  in  violating  the  oath  of  fidelity 
which  he  had  taken  to  his  suzerain;  he  would  have 
"departed  from  his  fealty"  and  have  become  a  traitor 
to  his  lord.  "He  who  through  some  motive  has  done 
violence  to  his  suzerain,  either  by  hand  or  by  tongue, 
or  has  taken  from  him  his  castle,"  said  the  custom  of 
Barcelona,  "has  committed  the  greatest  of  felonies." 
Many  poems  of  the  Middle  Ages  were  inspired  by  this 
sentiment.  Renaud  de  Montauban,  forced  to  make 
war  against  Charlemagne,  his  suzerain,  avoided  doing 
him  any  hurt,  and  when  he  had  taken  him  prisoner  fell 
on  his  knees  and  demanded  pardon  for  the  act.  Ber- 
nier,  vassal  of  Raoul  de  Cambrai,  having  received 
affronts  from  his  suzerain,  was  asked  by  the  other 
knights  how  it  was  possible  to  continue  in  his  service. 
He  replied :  "Raoul,  my  suzerain,  is  more  of  a  felon 
than  Judas,  but  he  is  my  lord,"  and  they  answered : 
"Bernier,  you  are  right." 

Honor. — The  knight  was  proud  of  being  a  gentle- 
man and  a  soldier.  He  was  conscious  of  his  dignity. 
No  one  dared  doubt  it,  nor  even  have  the  semblance  of 


THE   FEUDAL    SYSTEM  79 

doing  so.  No  one  dared  either  to  strike,  insult  or  con- 
tradict him,  for  that  would  suppose  him  guilty  of  false- 
hood. He  himself  must  not  suffer  either  a  blow,  an 
insult  or  a  contradiction;  he  would  be  dishonored  in 
the  eyes  of  all  knights,  and  in  his  own  eyes,  if  he  did 
not  take  vengeance  upon  the  one  who  insulted  him. 
This  sentiment  was  "honor" ;  it  was  the  product  of  a 
pride  and  a  vanity  equally  intense;  it  supposes  a  high 
idea  of  self,  and  the  need  of  making  others  share  this 
opinion.  Neither  the  Greeks  nor  the  Romans  had  any 
word  to  express  this  quality.  It  appeared  in  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  and  was  to  remain  down  to  our  time  as  the 
distinguishing  mark  of  the  true  gentleman.  The  point 
of  honor,  the  desire  to  preserve  his  honor  intact,  be- 
came more  and  more  the  rule  of  conduct  for  the  nobles 
and  a  safeguard  to  their  dignity. 

THE    FEUDAL    GOVERNMENT 

Independence  of  the  Proprietors From   the  ninth 

century  the  king  was  not  strong  enough  to  compel 
obedience.  The  suzerains,  lay  and  ecclesiastic,  were 
accustomed  each  to  be  master  in  his  own  domains. 
Every  proprietor,  knight  or  abbot  was  a  petty  sove- 
reign in  his  own  lands.  His  farmers  and  his  servants 
were  his  subjects ;  he  had  the  right  to  command  them, 
to  fine,  imprison,  or  to  hang  them ;  he  had  his  gallows, 
his  public  crier,  who  cried  his  orders  to  the  inhabitants 
(the  cry  was  called  the  ban)  ;  he  made  war  against  his 
neighbors ;  often  he  coined  money.  "Each  baron  is  a 
sovereign  in  his  barony,"  said  a  jurisconsult  of  the 
thirteenth  century.     Every  domain  was  a  petty  state, 


80  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

so  that  the  people  of  that  domain  called  those  of  a 
neighboring  village  (or  domain)  foreigners  (non-resi- 
dents). There  were  several  thousand  of  these  petty 
sovereigns;  many  were  simple  knights,  masters  of  a 
single  village ;  the  others,  richer,  styled  themselves  sires 
or  barons.  Finally,  in  each  province,  there  was  one 
who  bore  an  official  title,  the  count  or  the  duke.  He 
was  the  largest  proprietor  of  the  province.  His  ances- 
tors under  Charlemagne  were  as  yet  only  governors 
in  the  service  of  the  king.  But  in  the  tenth  century, 
the  king  not  being  strong  enough  to  take  away  the 
power  from  them,  they  became  hereditary  counts  or 
dukes ;  their  county,  their  duchy  became  a  fief,  that  is 
to  say,  an  estate  or  a  property.  Like  every  domain,  it 
could  be  sold,  bequeathed,  divided  even,  or  be  united 
to  others.  If  there  was  no  son,  a  daughter  inherited 
and  carried  it  as  dowry  to  her  husband.  At  this  time 
every  proprietor  had  the  power  of  a  sovereign  on  his 
domains,  and  every  sovereign  could,  as  a  proprietor, 
dispose  of  his  estate.  The  result  was  that  property 
and  sovereignty  were  confounded.  Therefore  the 
whole  policy  of  the  sovereigns  in  the  Middle  Ages  was 
the  policy  of  a  family ;  each  sovereign,  like  the  country- 
man of  our  time,  sought  to  round  out  his  domain  and 
to  provide  for  his  children. 

The  King. — Of  all  the  suzerains  in  France  the  high- 
est in  dignity  was  the  king;  he  had  a  superior  title  and 
the  others  did  him  homage.  But  he  was  not  the  most 
powerful ;  the  Duke  of  Normandy  and  the  Count  of 
Toulouse  had  larger  domains.  The  oath  of  homage 
by  which  the  great  lords  bound  themselves  to  the  king 
was  but  a  ceremony;  it  did  not  prevent  them  from 


THE   FEUDAL   SYSTEM  81 

making  war  upon  him,  and  even  when  they  would  not 
violate  the  oath  openly,  it  embarrassed  them  but  little. 
In  1 101  Robert,  Count  of  Flanders,  in  a  treaty  with 
the  King  of  England,  inserted  the  following  clause : 
"If  the  King  of  France,  Louis,  attacks  King  Henry  in 
Normandy,  Robert,  with  ten  knights  only,  will  go  into 
the  army  of  Louis,  and  the  500  other  knights  will 
remain  in  the  service  of  King  Henry.  If  King  Louis 
should  march  against  England  and  take  away  with 
him  the  count,  the  count  pledges  himself  to  bring  back 
with  him  as  few  men  as  possible."  he  court  of  Louis 
VII.  was  very  much  astonished  when  the  bishops  of 
Monde  came  to  Paris  to  acknowledge  the  authority  of 
the  King  of  France.  "That  country,"  it  was  said, 
"had  never  been  subject  to  any  one  but  a  bishop." 

The  king,  like  the  other  suzerains,  was  not  really 
obeyed  save  in  his  own  domain.  In  order  to  be  obeyed 
in  the  kingdom  of  France  it  was  necessary  for  him  in 
the  course  of  centuries  to  increase  his  domain  and  to 
take  into  it  one  after  another  all  the  provinces  of 
France. 

The  Custom — The  people  of  the  Middle  Ages  had 
hardly  any  written  laws ;  in  everything  they  did  as 
their  ancestors  had  done ;  this  was  called  following  the 
custom.  The  custom  was  not  written  and  was  pre- 
served only  by  tradition ;  even  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, when  there  was  a  case  in  doubt,  the  oldest  inhab- 
itants were  gathered  together  and  they  were  asked 
what  they  had  seen  practised  in  such  a  case.  Thus 
each  village  had  its  own  custom,  formed  by  time,  and 
not  exactly  like  that  of  its  neighbor.  "Two  seigniories 
could  not  be  found  in  all  this  kingdom,"  said  Beauma- 


82  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

noir,  "which,  in  every  case,  would  employ  the  same 
customs/'  However,  in  the  same  section  of  the  coun- 
try the  customs  resembled  each  other  sufficiently  to 
form  the  custom  of  the  whole  country.  The  great 
difference  was  between  the  countries  of  the  North, 
where  the  custom  came  from  old  Germanic  usage,  and 
the  countries  of  the  South,  which  had  preserved  the 
usage  of  the  Roman  law. 

The  people  of  the  Middle  Ages  loved  custom  and 
respected  it,  for  it  was  the  sole  ruling  to  which  they 
could  appeal,  the  sole  barrier  against  injustice.  "Cus- 
tom must  be  guarded,  for  were  it  not  guarded  there 
would  be  much  strife  among  the  people." 

Peace  and  Justice — In  the  Middle  Ages  the  pro- 
prietors maintained  peace  among  the  villeins  of  their 
domains  and  administered  justice  to  them  as  well  as 
they  could.  But  no  one  maintained  peace  among  the 
proprietors.  Each  dispensed  justice  to  himself  by 
making  war  upon  his  neighbor.  In  order  to  establish 
peace  the  knights  had  to  renounce  the  right  of  making 
war  and  to  accept  judgment  by  a  tribunal ;  it  was  a 
question  of  replacing  war  with  a  suit  at  law ;  therefore 
in  the  Middle  Ages  peace  and  justice  were  synony- 
mous. In  some  countries  ( Normandy,  England,  Naples, 
Spain),  the  sovereign  had  been  sufficiently  powerful 
to  force  the  knights  to  keep  peace  with  the  king  or  the 
duke;  elsewhere  the  bishops  tried  to  persuade  them  to 
keep  the  "Peace  of  God"  (to  lay  down  their  arms  on 
Sundays  and  on  feast-days),  but  they  did  not  succeed 
in  the  establishment  of  a  regular  tribunal.  When  two 
proprietors  quarrelled  it  came  about  that  their  neigh- 
bors induced  them  to  allow  their  affair  to  be  regulated 


THE   FEUDAL   SYSTEM  83 

by  arbitration,  or  their  suzerain  might  be  powerful 
enough  to  oblige  them  to  appear  before  him.  In  this 
case  he  had  the  difference  judged  by  the  officers  of  his 
household  and  by  some  knights  of  the  neighborhood; 
this  was  called  the  court  of  the  suzerain.  But  justice 
was  intermittent  and  often  powerless,  for  the  loser,  in 
place  of  submitting  to  the  decision,  recommenced  war. 
In  the  eleventh  century  Hugues,  vassal  of  the  Bishop 
of  Cambrai,  arrested  the  merchants  of  the  town,  tore 
out  their  beards,  demanded  from  them  a  ransom,  and 
ravaged  the  villages  of  the  bishop.  The  bishop,  his 
suzerain  three  times  in  succession,  ordered  him  to  ap- 
pear before  him.  Hugues  came  at  last,  but  refused  to 
make  any  reparation.  The  knights  of  the  bishop's 
court  condemned  Hugues  to  lose  his  fief.  He  troubled 
himself  little  about  the  sentence,  returned  home,  and 
some  time  after  arrested  the  bishop  himself. 

The  Duel. — In  the  courts,  where  the  knights  judged, 
a  suit  resembled  a  war.  When  the  two  adversaries 
were  called  together  they  had  to  fight  each  other ;  the 
conqueror  gained  the  suit.  It  was  thought  that  God 
had  given  him  the  victory  because  he  had  the  right  on 
his  side.  This  was  called  the  duel  or  battle.  The 
judges  who  formed  the  court  confined  themselves  to 
the  taking  of  an  oath  to  the  adversaries,  that  they 
believed  they  had  the  right  to  trace  out  the  ground  on 
which  the  combat  was  to  be  fought,  and  also  to  watch 
over  the  combatants.  The  court  ordered  the  duel,  not 
only  when  a  crime  had  been  committed,  or  when  an 
insult  was  offered,  but  to  decide  to  whom  a  domain 
should  belong,  and  even  what  rule  of  law  should  be 
followed.     In  the  thirteenth  century  Alphonso,   King 


84  MEDIAEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

of  Castile,  had  two  champions  fight  in  order  to  decide 
whether  the  Roman  law  should  be  introduced  into  his 
domains.  The  knights  regarded  the  duel  as  the  most 
convenient  and  the  most  honorable  method  of  deciding 
a  suit;  no  discussions  were  gone  through,  no  proofs 
were  given;  in  offering  him  battle  the  adversary  was 
answered. 

The  duel  was  employed  not  only  in  the  courts  of 
the  knights,  but  in  the  tribunals  of  the  towns,  among 
the  citizens  (bourgeois),  often  even  among  the  peas- 
ants in  the  country;  the  combatants  were  then  armed 
with  shield  and  stick.  When  one  of  the  adversaries 
could  not  fight  he  had  himself  replaced  by  a  champion. 
The  duel  was  customary  in  Paris,  even  in  the  tribunal 
of  the  bishop. 

Some  people  showed  scruples  in  regard  to  it.  Pope 
Eugenius  III.,  being  consulted,  answered :  "Make  use 
of  your  custom."  The  custom  of  the  duel  was  so 
deeply  rooted  that  it  could  not  be  set  aside;  the  duel 
suppressed  in  the  courts,  continued  to  be  regarded  as 
the  sole  means  of  doing  oneself  justice  in  affairs  of 
honor.  It  is  like  the  point  of  honor,  a  remnant  of  the 
Middle  Ages. 

The  Judgment  of  God. — The  duel  was  not  used  by 
women,  and  was  often  forbidden  to  the  peasantry. 
Then  was  employed  the  judgment  of  God.  After 
mass  and  solemn  prayers  to  ask  God  to  manifest  the 
truth,  the  accused  man  or  woman  submitted  to  a  test. 
Sometimes  he  was  made  to  carry  a  piece  of  red-hot 
iron  for  some  distance,  or  to  plunge  an  arm  into  a 
cauldron  of  boiling  water;  if,  some  days  after,  the 
hand  or  arm  showed  no  wound,  the  judgment  of  God 


THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM  85 

was  in  his  favor.  Sometimes  he  was  thrown  bound 
into  a  pool  of  water,  if  he  went  to  the  bottom  he  won, 
if  he  floated  he  lost.  At  the  moment  when  he  was 
thrown  into  the  water  the  priest  adjured  the  water  in 
these  words:  "I  adjure  thee,  oh  water!  in  the  name  of 
the  Almighty  God,  who  created  thee,  and  ordained 
thee  to  serve  the  needs  of  man,  not  to  receive  this  man 
if  he  is  culpable,  .  .  .  but  cause  that  he  float  upon 
thee."  Sometimes  they  were  content  to  make  the 
accused  swallow  a  piece  of  bread  and  cheese,  after 
having  adjured  them  to  remain  in  his  throat  if  he  had 
lied.  These  tests  were  called  ordeals.  The  church  had 
drawn  up  a  ritual  for  each  ordeal.  In  12 15  the  general 
Council  gathered  at  the  Lateran  ordered  these  tests 
to  be  suppressed. 


Chapter  vii 

THE    CHURCH    IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES 

ORGANIZATION    OF    THE    CHURCH 

The  Dioceses — All  the  cities  of  the  old  Roman  em- 
pire had  preserved  the  diocese.1  In  Germany,  accord- 
ing as  the  country  became  christianized,  the  kings 
created  bishoprics.  As  the  church  forbade  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  bishop  elsewhere  than  in  a  city,  dioceses 
and  cities  were  founded  at  the  same  time.  Old  or 
new,  the  dioceses  were  richly  endowed.  They  had 
received  immense  domains,  often  an  entire  province. 
The  kings  had  given  immunity  to  the  bishops :  that  is, 
the  right  to  govern  themselves  in  their  own  domain. 
"Let  no  public  functionary,"  say  the  conditions  of  the 
immunity,  "dare  to  enter  the  lands  of  this  church, 
either  to  levy  taxes  or  to  judge,  or  to  arrest  men, 
bond  or  free,  who  live  there."  The  bishop  became  a 
veritable  sovereign.  The  bishops  of  Cologne,  May- 
ence  and  Treves  were  the  three  foremost  princes  in 
Germany. 

The  Chapters. — The  priests  of  the  cathedral,  so  the 
church  of  the  seat  of  the  diocese  was  called,  were  at 

1  The  division  into  dioceses  established  under  the  Romans 
fell  into  disuse.  The  new  towns  founded  in  the  Middle  Ages 
did  not  become  dioceses,  they  remained  subject  to  their  former 
metropolitan  city,  often  much  smaller  than  they  were,  e.  g., 
Montpelier  to  Magnelonne,   Dijon  to  Langres. 

86 


THE   CHURCH    IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES  87 

first  subject  to  the  bishops.  From  the  ninth  century 
they  lived  in  commons,  according  to  a  rule  similar  to 
that  which  governed  the  monks;  from  that  came  their 
name  canons  (submission  to  rule)  ;  their  united  body 
formed  the  chapter.  The  canons  had  at  first  only  the 
prebends  for  their  support,  that  is,  the  furnishing  of 
food  and  clothing.  But  when  the  chapters  had  re- 
ceived many  donations  the  prebend  became  a  domain, 
often  of  great  extent.  Each  canon  enjoyed  the  revenue 
of  a  prebend,  which  permitted  him  to  live  the  life  of 
a  lord.  "To  live  like  a  canon"  signified  to  live  in  a 
sumptuous  manner.  The  chapters  becoming  inde- 
pendent of  their  bishops  were  therefore  petty  sov- 
ereigns. 

The  Abbeys — There  was  no  diocese  of  the  Middle 
Ages  which  did  not  contain  several  convents  of  monks. 
All  observed  the  same  rules,  those  of  Saint  Benedict, 
but  each  congregation  formed  an  independent  abbey, 
governed  by  an  abbot.  An  abbey  included  the  lodging 
of  the  monks,  the  residence  of  the  abbot,  the  church,  the 
hospice  (where  strangers  were  lodged),  the  workshops, 
the  storehouses,  the  houses  for  the  domestics  and  farm- 
ers. It  was  at  the  very  least  a  large  village,  and  often  a 
small  town.  It  was  possessed  of  large  domains ;  often 
they  were  scattered  through  several  provinces.  The 
abbot  sent  some  monks  to  live  upon  the  distant  do- 
mains. They  were  under  the  direction  of  a  prior; 
these  small  dependent  convents  were  named  priories 
or  obediences.  The  abbot  governed  with  the  aid  of 
the  chapter  of  monks.  In  the  great  convents  he  had 
dignitaries  under  him,  the  provost  or  cloistered  prior, 
his  deputy,  the  chamberlain  in  charge  of  the  clothing, 


88  MEDIAEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

the  cellarer,  in  charge  of  the  provisions,  the  treasurer, 
the  librarian,  the  chorister,  and  the  director  of  the 
school.  The  monks  lived  in  commons,  but  they  were 
obliged  to  keep  silent  save  at  certain  hours ;  they  came 
together  before  day  to  sing  matins  at  sunrise,  to 
hear  prime;  then  came  the  mass,  prayers,  nones  and 
compline.  As  the  regulations  of  Saint  Benedict  com- 
manded labor,  the  monks  were  occupied  either  in  culti- 
vating the  soil,  in  watching  over  the  domestics,  in 
making  ornaments  for  the  church,  or  in  copying  manu- 
scripts. Many  monks  have  described  the  life  they  led 
in  their  abbey,  but  the  pictures  differ  greatly  according 
as  to  whether  the  convent  was  rich  or  poor,  recently 
organized  or  of  older  date,  well  or  ill  disciplined. 

The  Parish.- — In  Roman  times,  there  had  been 
churches  and  priests  only  in  the  towns.  When  the 
whole  country  had  become  christianized,  the  large  pro- 
prietors, lords,  abbots  or  bishops  set  about  building 
chapels  in  their  domains.  The  founder  endowed  the 
church  with  sufficient  land  to  cover  the  expenses  of 
worship  and  to  support  a  priest,  and  the  bishop  ap- 
proved the  foundation.  From  that  time  the  priest  of 
that  church  (the  founder  and  his  heirs  reserved  the 
right  to  name  him),  had  the  care  (the  cure1)  of  the 
souls  of  the  village;  the  inhabitants  had  to  attend  his 
church,  and  to  obey  him.  The  territory  administered 
by  a  priest  formed  a  parish  (administration). 

When  this  work  of  division  was  ended  (in  France 
it  was  about  the  tenth  century),  the  whole  Christian 
country  was  divided  into  parishes,  just  as  it  still  is 
today.     Each  village  had  its  church,  or  was  attached 

1  From  this  word  came  the  title  curate. 


THE   CHURCH    IN   THE    MIDDLE   AGES  89 

to  the  church  of  a  neighboring  town.  Religion  pene- 
trated the  most  remote  countries.  For  the  first  time 
the  peasants  could  celebrate  the  mysteries  of  their  re- 
ligion without  going  to  the  city.  They  had  in  their  own 
village,  their  church,  where  they  assembled;  their 
bell-tower1  with  its  spire,  which  could  be  seen  afar  off, 
and  its  bells  which  called  the  faithful  to  prayer;  they 
had  their  baptismal  fonts  for  the  baptism  of  their  chil- 
dren, and  their  cemeteries  for  the  interment  of  their 
dead.  They  had  in  their  midst  their  own  priest  to 
instruct  them  in  religion.  They  had,  too,  their  patron, 
the  saint  of  their  church ;  his  fete  day  became  the 
festive  day  of  the  village,  and  his  name  was  often  given 
to  the  village  itself. 

Excommunication — The  clergy  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
richer,  better  disciplined,  better  instructed  than  the 
laity,  had  in  addition  an  irresistible  power;  they  ad- 
ministered the  sacraments,  which  no  one  was  able  to 
do  without.  There  were  then  no  unbelievers ;  if  a 
layman  often  disobeyed  the  rules  of  the  church,  or  in 
a  moment  of  wrath  maltreated  a  monk  or  a  priest,  all 
believed  firmly  in  the  last  judgment,  and  submitted 
to  humiliating  penances  in  order  to  obtain  absolution. 
Against  the  criminals,  and  the  stubborn,  the  clergy  em- 
ployed "spiritual  arms,"  as  they  said,  the  culprit  was 
excommunicated,  that  is,  cut  off  from  fellowship  with 
the  faithful.  "By  virtue  of  the  divine  authority  con- 
ferred on  the  bishops  by  Saint  Peter,"  said  the  bishop, 
"we  cast  him  out  from  the  bosom  of  our  Holy  Mother 

1  In  Christian  countries  the  exile  sighs  for  the  bell-tower  of 
his  native  village  as  Ulysses  longed  for  the  "  smoke  of  his  hearth." 
The  bell- tower  is  for  us  the  symbol  of  our  native  land. 


90  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

Church.  Let  him  be  accursed  in  his  town,  accursed  in 
his  field,  accursed  in  his  home.  Let  no  Christian  speak- 
to  him,  or  eat  with  him ;  let  no  priest  say  mass  for  him, 
nor  give  him  the  communion;  let  him  be  buried  like 
the  ass.  .  .  .  And  as  these  torches  cast  down  by 
our  hands  are  about  to  be  extinguished  so  may  the 
light  of  his  life  be  extinguished  unless  he  repent  and 
give  satisfaction  by  his  devotion." 

In  the  eleventh  century  the  "interdict"  began  to  be 
employed  against  the  lord  who  braved  the  excom- 
munication. The  clergy  deprived  of  the  sacraments 
not  only  the  suzerain,  but  all  the  people  in  his  domains  : 
in  all  the  length  and  breadth  of  his  possessions  no  one 
could  be  married  or  buried,  the  church  bells  were  not 
rung ;  the  people  chastised  together  with  their  suzerain 
were  obliged  to  fast,  and  to  let  the  hair  grow  as  a  sign 
of  mourning.  Thus  did  the  clergy  force  the  lords  to 
respect  the  laws  of  religion,  and  also  prevent  them 
from  taking  possession  of  the  property  of  the  church. 

REFORM    IN    THE    CHURCH 

Confusion  of  Power — In  the  eleventh  century  the 
spiritual  power  over  the  soul  and  the  temporal  power 
over  the  body  were  not  sharply  defined.  Bishops  and 
abbots  were  not  only  religious  chiefs,  they  had  a  large 
share  of  political  power.  Because  of  their  large 
domains  they  were  great  lords,  seigniors,  sovereigns 
over  their  peasants  and  over  their  vassal  knights. 
More  than  that,  kings,  princes  and  all  men  at  arms 
needed  the  help  of  the  ecclesiastics  in  the,  for  them, 
too  complicated  cares  of  the  government.    The  bishops 


THE   CHURCH    IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES  91 

sat  in  their  courts,  drew  up  their  orders,  dictated  their 
"judgments,"  in  a  word,  governed  in  their  place. 
That  was  not  all ;  the  bishops  had  received  since  the 
time  of  Charlemagne,  a  share  in  the  administration  of 
the  provinces ;  in  Germany  many  of  them  had  the 
authority  of  a  count. 

But  in  acquiring  the  power  of  a  lay  lord,  they  had 
to  accept  the  obligations  of  such  a  lord.  Like  the 
counts  they  were  vassals  of  the  king,  and  like  them 
they  owed  homage  and  military  service  to  their  liege. 
The  army  of  the  king,  in  Germany,  was  composed 
chiefly  of  knights  brought  by  the  bishops  and  abbots. 
Even  in  France,  the  king  obliged  them,  sometimes  to 
come  to  the  army  in  person.  "It  is  an  ancient  custom," 
wrote  Philip  I.  to  the  abbot  of  Saint  Medard  at  Sois- 
sons,  "for  the  knights  of  the  abbey,  the  abbot  at  their 
head,  to  join  in  the  royal  expeditions.  Let  the  abbot 
follow  the  custom,  or  let  him  cede  his  place."  The 
abbot  resigned ;  his  successor  joined  the  army. 

The  Spirit  of  the  Century — In  the  tenth  century, 
the  bishops  and  abbots  were  usually  the  sons  of  lords ; 
the  priests  and  monks  were  sons  of  peasants,  who, 
without  any  inclination,  took  orders  in  obedience  to 
their  parents  or  for  the  purpose  of  enjoying  the  wealth 
of  the  church.  They  brought  into  the  church  the 
manners  of  the  laymen,  they  passed  their  time  in 
hunting,  drinking,  gaming,  and  fighting.  The  abbots 
squandered  the  wealth  of  the  convents  in  order  to  main- 
tain a  band  of  adventurers.  Many  married  and  be- 
queathed their  children  to  the  church;  in  Normandy 
priests  gave  their  curacies  as  dowry  to  their  daughters. 
Many  did  not  know  how  to  read  and  had  forgotten 


92  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

how  to  say  mass.  The  greater  number  had  bought 
their  livings  from  the  laity,  and  had  sold  them  again 
to  other  ecclesiastics :  this  traffic  in  holy  things  was 
called  simony.  The  clergy  became  gross,  ignorant, 
and  covetous,  like  the  laity ;  it  was  said  that  the  church 
was  infected  with  the  "spirit  of  the  century."  1 

The  New  Monastic  Orders — These  scandals  caused 
great  horror  to  those  ecclesiastics  who  had  remained 
faithful  to  the  spirit  of  the  church,  and  they  urged 
the  most  zealous  to  lay  new  foundations.  Some  left 
this  corrupt  world  and  fled  to  the  desert,  Saint  Bruno 
coming  from  the  north  of  France,  buried  himself  in 
the  wild  mountain  regions  of  Dauphiny,  and  with  a 
few  companions  founded  the  order  of  the  Carthusians 
(Chartreux  hermits  who  live  in  a  chartre  or  cell).  An 
Italian  seignior,  Saint  Romualdo,  founded  in  the  same 
manner,  an  order  in  the  mountains  of  Tuscany,  called 
the  "Camaldules."  Others  wished  to  put  an  end 
to  the  scandals  by  making  the  clergy  come  back 
under  the  regulations.  They  began  by  reestablishing 
severe  discipline  in  a  convent,  which  afterward  served 
as  a  model  for  reforming  the  others.  The  great 
centres  of  reform  were  Cluny,  the  oldest,  where  the 
reform  took  place  in  the  eleventh  century;  Gteaux, 
founded  in  1094,  both  in  Burgundy;  Clairvaux 
founded  in  11 15,  Premontre  founded  in  1120.  It  was 
not  a  question  of  replacing  the  ancient  regulations  of 
Saint  Benedict,  but,  on  the  contrary,  of  restoring  them 
to  vigor  by  the  practice  of  labor,  obedience,  and  espec- 

1  In  the  language  of  the  church  the  century  is  the  world.  The 
clergy,  who  lived  among  the  laity,  were  called  the  secular  clergy, 
they  were  the  priests  and  bishops;  the  regular  clergy  were  those 
who  lived  out  of  the  world,  like  the  monks. 


THE   CHURCH    IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES  93 

ially  poverty,  which  the  convents  invaded  by  the  spirit 
of  the  century  had  ceased  to  do.  The  founder  of 
Clairvaux,  Saint  Bernard,  forbade  his  monks  to  wear 
furs,  cowls,  or  to  use  bed-clothes,  he  wanted  no 
luxury  even  in  the  churches ;  he  only  permitted  a 
a  cross  of  painted  wood,  an  iron  candelabra,  and  cop- 
per censers.  The  monks,  after  the  reform,  all  re- 
mained Benedictines.  But  to  arrest  the  progress  of 
the  disorders  too  easily  introduced  into  an  independ- 
ent monastery,  it  was  decided  that  the  reformed  con- 
vents should  keep  the  direction  of  all  convents  founded 
or  reformed  by  them.  Thus  Cluny,  Citeaux,  and  Pre- 
montre  became  heads  of  the  order;  the  convents  of 
that  order  were  no  longer  abbeys,  but  priories,  all 
obeyed  the  same  abbot,  and  sent  delegates  to  the  gen- 
eral assemblies  of  the  order. 

The  orders  increased  rapidly  in  numbers  and  in 
power;  in  the  twelfth  century,  Cluny  had  more  than 
400  monks  and  had  charge  of  2,000  convents ;  Citeaux 
had  1,800  convents  scattered  throughout  Europe. 
Then  began  a  rivalry  between  the  black  friars  of  Cluny 
and  the  white  friars  of  Citeaux  (the  Cistercians).  It 
was  these  reformed  monks  who  obliged  the  rest  of 
the  clergy  to  reform  their  manners,  they  energeti- 
cally supported  the  pope  and  brought  all  Christians, 
laity  and  clergy  to  submit  to  his  authority.  Gregory 
VII.,  the  great  papal  reformer  and  ruler,  was  a  monk 
of  Cluny ;  Saint  Bernard,  the  great  doctor  of  the 
twelfth  century,  was  a  Cistercian.  It  was  an  ancient 
custom  in  the  church,  when  one  of  the  faithful  con- 
fessed a  sin,  before  absolution  was  granted,  and  before 
he  was  permitted  to  reenter  the  church,  a  public  pen- 


94  MEDLBVAL  CIVILIZATION 

ance  was  imposed  upon  him  by  the  priest,  provided 
that  the  sin  had  been  committed  in  public.  Already 
in  the  eighth  century,  there  were  in  existence  books 
of  penitence,  where  was  indicated  the  punishment  to 
be  inflicted  for  each  offence.  For  a  long  time  these 
punishments  were  severe  and  humiliating.  In  certain 
acts  of  penance,  which  lasted  seven  years,  the  penitent 
during  the  first  year  had  to  stand  barefooted  before 
the  door  of  the  church,  prostrating  himself  before  all 
who  entered  and  supplicating  them  to  pray  for  him. 
The  penances  consisted  in  fasting,  reciting  prayers, 
and  in  beating  oneself  with  bundles  of  rods.  Little 
by  little  the  system  was  regulated;  it  was  admitted 
that  three  thousand  blows  from  the  rods  were  equal 
to  a  year  of  penance.  Dominic  surnamed  the  Cuirasse, 
an  Italian  hermit  of  the  eleventh  century,  had  the 
reputation  of  being  able  to  do  a  hundred  years  of 
penance  in  fifteen  days.  It  was  admitted  also  that 
penance  could  be  redeemed  by  charitable  works,  by 
pilgrimages,  or  by  gifts  to  the  church.  The  saints, 
it  was  said,  had  had  more  virtue  than  was  necessary 
for  their  salvation ;  these  superabundant  merits  formed 
a  "treasury  of  indulgences,"  which  permitted  com- 
pensation for  the  offences  of  sinners.  The  church 
which  disposed  of  them,  scattered  these  indulgences 
among  the  believers,  it  could  grant  them  even  to  the 
souls  of  the  dead,  who  were  in  purgatory.  In  exchange 
it  could  exact  certain  pecuniary  sacrifices.  The  sinner 
did  not  buy  absolution  (as  has  been  incorrectly  said), 
he  only  redeemed  the  penance,  or  rather  the  church 
remitted  it  to  him.  Such  is  the  theory  of  indulgences. 
"On  receiving  lands  from  the  penitents,"  said  Damien, 


THE   CHURCH    IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES  95 

"we  remit  a  large  amount  of  penance,  according  to 
the  value  of  their  gift." 

There  were  then  two  systems  of  doing  penance : 
one,  the  more  gentle,  the  indulgences  gained  through 
donations  or  pilgrimages,  sufficed  for  the  lukewarm 
souls,  and  for  peaceful  epochs ;  the  other,  more  severe, 
the  blows  of  the  rods,  was  much  more  reassuring  to 
ardent  souls.  The  zealous  Christians  like  Saint  Louis 
or  Saint  Elizabeth,  wore  next  the  skin  a  shirt  of  horse- 
hair and  had  their  confessors  beat  them  with  rods. 
In  moments  of  religious  terror,  during  epidemics  and 
wars,  companies  of  flagellants  were  formed.  They 
went  about  the  country,  the  shoulders  naked,  and 
beating  themselves  until  the  blood  flowed. 

The  Greek  Schism. — The  Greek  Christians  in  the 
countries  of  the  Orient  had  been  for  a  long  time  united 
in  one  church  with  the  Roman  Christians  of  the  Occi- 
dent. They  had  several  patriarchs,  at  Constantinople, 
at  Alexandria,  at  Jerusalem,  and  at  Antioch,  and  they 
also  recognized  the  superiority  of  the  bishop  of  Rome. 
But  after  the  Arabs  had  conquered  Egypt  and  Syria 
but  one  patriarch  remained  in  the  Empire,  the  one 
at  Constantinople  who  began  to  be  a  rival  of  the  pope. 
When,  in  the  eighth  century,  the  pope  had  broken  off 
relations  with  the  emperor  on  account  of  the  worship 
of  images,  the  Greek  Christians  began  to  no  longer 
regard  the  Christians  of  the  Occident  as  brothers. 
There  were  between  the  two  parties  of  the  Christian 
world,  some  slight  differences  in  worship  and  in  doc- 
trine. The  Greeks  believed  that  the  Holy  Spirit  pro- 
ceeds from  the  Father  only,  the  people  in  the  west 
believed  that  He  proceeds  from  the  Father  and  the 


96  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

Son,  and  that  the  Son  is  of  the  same  substance  as  the 
Father.  The  Greeks  used  bread  at  the  communion, 
the  western  church  used  unleavened  bread.  The 
Greeks  permitted  the  marriage  of  priests,  the  western 
church  forbade  it.  The  secret  hostility  of  the  two 
churches  was  manifested  openly  about  the  ninth  cen- 
tury. The  emperor  had  deposed  Ignace,  the  patriarch 
of  Constantinople,  and  had  put  in  his  place  Photius, 
a  former  diplomat  and  general,  the  best  educated  man 
of  his  time,  who  was  not  a  priest,  and  who  in  a  few 
days  was  made  to  pass  through  all  the  degrees  of  the 
hierarchy.  Pope  Nicholas  took  the  part  of  the  de- 
posed patriarch,  and  excommunicated  Photius  and  his 
partisans.  Photius  summoned  a  council  at  Constanti- 
nople, which  condemned  as  heresies  the  peculiar  doc- 
trines of  the  Latins  and  excommunicated  Nicholas 
(867).  The  pope  profited  by  a  change  of  emperors, 
in  order  to  hold  at  Constantinople  an  ecumenical 
council  (869)  which  deposed  Photius  and  set  aside 
his  acts.  But  in  879  a  new  council  annulled  the  acts 
of  the  council  of  869  and  declared  that  the  pope  had 
the  supremacy  only  over  the  church  in  the  Occident. 
The  pope  responded  by  excommunicating  Photius, 
who  withdrew  into  a  convent.  It  seemed  that  the 
rupture  was  decisive.  But  from  the  end  of  the  ninth 
century  the  popes  having  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
Roman  barons  found  themselves  too  feeble  to  con- 
tinue the  contest. 

It  was  only  in  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century, 
when  the  pope  felt  himself  strengthened  at  Rome,  and 
in  the  west,  that  he  sent  two  legates  to  solemnly  de- 
posit in  the  church  at  Constantinople  a  bill  of  excom- 


THE   CHURCH    IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES  97 

munication  against  the  patriarch  and  his  partisans 
(1054).  The  church  in  the  Orient  refused  to  submit 
and  since  that  time  the  Christians  have  remained 
divided  between  the  two  churches :  the  Latin  or 
catholic  church,  which  obeys  the  pope,  the  Greek  or 
Orthodox  church  which  recognizes  the  patriarch  of 
Constantinople.  To  this  church  belong  not  only  the 
Greeks,  but  the  Russians,  Bulgarians,  Servians  and 
Roumanians. 

The  Heresies. — The  rare  and  isolated  heretics  of  the 
early  centuries  of  the  Middle  Ages  began  about  the 
twelfth  century  to  multiply,  especially  in  the  south 
of  France  and  the  north  of  Italy.  They  were  divided 
into  very  different  sects,  but  it  is  not  easy  for  us  to 
distinguish  them.  We  know  them  only  through  the 
accounts  given  by  their  enemies.  Some  had  borrowed 
from  the  heretics  of  Bulgaria  the  old  Persian  doc- 
trine of  the  Manicheans  concerning  the  contest  be- 
tween good  and  evil.  Others,  the  Cathares  (pure), 
the  poor  of  Lyons,  the  Vaudois  had  become  heretics 
through  aversion  for  the  vices  of  the  clergy  of  their 
time.  The  chief  of  the  sect  of  the  Vaudois,  Valdus, 
a  rich  merchant  of  Lyons,  had  the  Holy  Scriptures 
translated  into  the  vulgar  tongue;  obeying  the  maxim 
of  the  Gospel,  he  had  distributed  all  his  goods  to  the 
poor  and  had  begun  to  preach  notwithstanding  the 
prohibition  of  his  bishop.  His  disciples  rejected  every- 
thing which  they  did  not  find  in  the  Bible:  images, 
holy  water,  saints,  relics,  purgatory,  fasting,  and  in- 
dulgences. "The  Roman  church,"  they  said,  "is  not 
the  church  of  Christ,  but  the  church  of  the  devil.  The 
prelates  are  nothing  but  Pharisees,  they  ought  not  to 


98  MEDLEVIAL   CIVILIZATON 

possess  territorial  wealth,  but  ought  to  labor  like  the 
apostles;  they  ought  not  to  command  others,  for  in 
the  true  church  all  are  equal ;  the  laity  are  not  inferior 
to  the  priests ;  they  have  the  right  to  preach  as  did  the 
apostles;  a  pious  layman  is  more  truly  a  priest  and 
can  give  the  communion  better  than  the  clerical  preach- 
ers who  govern  the  church;  the  sacraments  and  the 
indulgences  are  useless,  for  faith  and  repentance  are 
sufficient  for  salvation."  The  strength  of  these  here- 
tics lay  in  the  fact,  that  they  could  address  the  people 
in  their  own  tongue,  and  that  their  preachers  led  a 
poor  and  simple  life  in  contrast  to  the  manners  of  a 
too  rich  and  often  corrupt  clergy.  But  the  greater 
part  of  the  Christians  held  in  horror  the  word  heresy, 
and  they  willingly  put  themselves  at  the  service  of  the 
clergy  for  the  purpose  of  exterminating  the  heretics. 
In  France  the  knights,  at  the  appeal  of  the  pope,  led 
a  crusade  against  them  as  they  had  done  against  the 
Moslems;  they  massacred  all  the  inhabitants  of 
Beziers,  as  the  crusaders  in  the  Orient  had  slain  the 
nuns  and  women  at  Jerusalem.  In  Germany,  the  em- 
peror Frederic  II.,  a  half  Saracen,  excommunicated 
by  the  pope,  ordered  people  who  were  suspected  of 
heresy  to  be  burned. 

The  Inquisition. — To  complete  the  destruction  of 
the  heretics,  the  pope  sent  into  the  towns  of  Languedoc 
commissioners,  charged  with  making  an  inquest 
(inquisition)  concerning  the  people,  who  were  sus- 
pected of  heresy.  He  gave  the  full  power  to  arrest, 
judge  and  condemn  all  persons,  leaving  them  free  to 
proceed  as  seemed  good  to  themselves,  authorizing 
them  to  absolve  each  other  in  case  any  irregularity 


THE   CHURCH    IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES  99 

was  committed.  These  inquisitors  (usually  monks) 
ordered  before  them  the  people  who  had  been  de- 
nounced to  them  as  heretics,  and  examined  them,  with- 
out telling  them  the  names  of  their  accusers.  If  the 
suspect  refused  to  speak  the  "dure  prison,"  and  the 
"vie  etroite,"  as  they  were  called  were  employed.  "I 
have  often  seen  some,"  said  an  inquisitor,  "who,  kept 
in  prison  for  several  years  have  at  last  confessed  even 
their  former  crimes."  In  order  to  make  them  speak, 
torture,  abandoned  since  the  time  of  the  Romans,  was 
again  employed,  and  in  that  way  once  more  became 
the  usage.  This  tribunal  of  Inquisition,1  judged  arbi- 
trarily and  without  appeal.  It  condemned  some  to 
pay  heavy  fines,  or  to  make  distant  pilgrimages,  others 
had  to  wear  a  yellow  cross  sewn  on  their  clothing, 
which  designated  them  to  everyone  as  suspects,  others 
had  to  follow  processions  as  penitents,  carrying  whips 
with  which  they  must  be  scourged.  Others  were 
"immured,"  that  is,  imprisoned  forever  in  a  small 
dark  cell,  "to  eat  the  bread  of  anguish  and  to  drink 
the  water  of  sorrow."  Some  were  burned  on  the 
funeral  pile;  the  Inquisition  did  not  execute  them,  it 
confined  itself  to  "delivering  them  over  to  the  secular 
arm,"  that  is,  to  a  lay  judge,  who  was  to  put  them  in 
charge  of  the  executioner.' 

The  Mendicant  Monks. — The  religious  orders  which 
in  the  eleventh  century  had  struggled  against  corrup- 
tion had,  in  their  turn,  become  very  rich.  The  abbot 
of  Cluny  traveled  with  an  escort  of  eighty  horsemen. 
The  white  friars  sent  to  convert  the  heretics  shocked 
them  by  their  luxury.  A  new  organization  had  to  be 
1  Its  title  was:   The  Inquisition  of  Heretical  Perversity. 


100  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

found ;  this  was  the  work  of  an  Italian,  Saint  Francis, 
and  of  a  Spaniard,  Saint  Dominic. 

Saint  Francis  (born  in  1182),  son  of  a  rich  mer- 
chant of  Assisi,  had  voluntarily  become  poor ;  he  went 
through  the  towns,  begging  and  preaching.  He  was 
thought  to  be  mad,  and  his  father  cursed  him,  but  his 
humility,  his  meekness,  and  his  enthusiasm,  soon  made 
him  adored.  Disciples  came  to  him  in  crowds,  and  he 
decided  to  organize  them  and  to  found  the  order  of 
"minor  friars,"  the  Franciscans.  Saint  Francis  led 
the  life  of  a  hermit,  he  watched,  prayed,  fasted,  wore 
hair-cloth,  mixed  ashes  with  his  food,  in  order  to 
make  it  disagreeable ;  every  night  he  whipped  himself 
with  iron  chains  (three  times,  for  himself,  for  living 
sinners,  and  for  the  souls  in  purgatory),  and  he  died 
lying  on  the  bare  ground.  But  unlike  the  anchorites 
he  was  tender,  and  desired  the  salvation  of  others. 
He  wanted  his  Franciscans  to  always  be  poor  hermits, 
but  hermits  living  among  men  to  exhort  them  to  piety. 
"Go,  two  by  two,"  said  he  to  his  diciples,  "declare  to 
all  men  peace  and  penitence  for  the  remission  of  their 
sins.  Fear  nothing  because  we  appear  to  be  children 
or  fools,  but  announce  simply  repentance  and  a  new 
birth,  confident  that  the  spirit  of  God,  who  rules  the 
world,  will  speak  through  your  mouth."  His  regula- 
tions were  very  simple.  "The  friars  should  have 
nothing  of  their  own ;  they  should  go  as  pilgrims  and 
strangers  in  this  world,  serving  God  in  poverty  and 
humility,  they  should  go  trusting  to  alms,  and  not  be 
ashamed  for  the  Lord  made  himself  poor  for  our 
sakes."  The  Franciscans  are  clothed  as  pilgrims,  with 
a  gown   of  coarse  wool,  with   a  hood   or  capuchon 


THE   CHURCH    IN   THE   MIDDLE    AGES         101 

(hence  their  name  Capucines),  they  are  shod  with 
sandals,  and  have  a  girdle  of  heavy  cord  (hence  their 
name  Cordeliers).     They  live  on  alms. 

Saint  Dominic  (born  in  1170)  was  also  an  ascetic; 
he  drank  no  wine,  wore  the  hair-cloth  with  a  chain 
of  iron,  and  died  lying  in  a  bed  of  ashes.  But  first 
of  all  he  was  a  preacher.  For  ten  years  he  preached 
in  the  country  of  the  Albigenses  in  order  to  convert 
the  heretics.  There  he  saw  how  eager  the  people  were 
to  have  the  word  of  God,  and  how  scandalized  they 
were  at  the  luxury  displayed  by  the  clergy.  He  made 
a  point  of  going  about  on  foot,  and  in  very  simple 
garments ;  he  wanted  to  give  missionaries  to  the  peo- 
ple. He  founded  the  order  of  preaching  friars,  des- 
tined to  carry  everywhere  the  word  of  God  for  the 
salvation  of  the  souls  of  men,  and  he  imposed  upon 
the  order  the  vow  of  poverty. 

So  the  Franciscans  were  mendicants,  and  became 
preachers ;  the  Dominicans  were  preachers  and  became 
mendicants.  The  two  orders  greatly  resembled  each 
other.1  Both  were  organized  in  the  same  way,  with 
a  general,  who  was  directly  obedient  to  the  pope;  but 
the  Dominicans  addressed  themselves  rather  to  the 
lords,  while  the  Franciscans  turned  to  the  common 
people.  Both  spread  with  unheard  of  rapidity.  About 
1277  there  were  417  convents  of  Dominicans;  in  1260 
there  were  1808  convents  of  Franciscans,  each  con- 
vent had  at  least  twelve  members.     As  they  relied  on 

1  Saint  Dominic  proposed  to  unite  them,  Saint  Francis  re- 
fused, "so  that  each  might  serve  as  model  and  goad  to  the 
other."  The  two  orders,  at  first  competitors  and  allies,  finally, 
in  the  fifteenth  century,  detested  and  fought  each  other. 

TJNTVT'    '  TTtRNI 


102  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

God,  who  was  "their  granary  and  their  cellar,"  they 
could  accept  as  many  brothers  as  presented  them- 
selves. "To  those  who  came  to  them  was  given  a 
gown  and  a  cord,  and  for  the  rest,  they  were  en- 
trusted to  the  care  of  Providence."  The  ancient  monks 
had  lived  out  of  the  world,  the  mendicant  monks 
mingled  in  society.  The  people  allowed  them  to 
preach,  confess,  and  bury,  and  the  faithful  hastened 
to  them,  abandoning  the  ordinary  priest.  This  was 
an  important  evolution,  which  strengthened  still  more 
the  authority  of  the  pope. 

The  Jurisdiction  of  the  Church — From  the  thir- 
teenth century  there  was  in  each  diocese  a  tribunal  of 
the  church,  where  sat  the  delegate  of  the  bishop  (the 
ecclesiastical  judge).  All  the  suits  in  which  any  one 
of  the  clergy  was  concerned  were  judged  there,  for 
it  was  not  admitted  that  a  layman  could  lay  hands 
on  a  man  consecrated  by  God.  The  clergyman,  even 
if  he  had  committed  a  crime,  could  be  judged  only  by 
a  clergyman ;  such  was  the  "privilege  of  the  ministry," 
a  privilege  much  sought  for,  as  the  judges  of  the 
church  never  condemned  to  death ;  often  a  malefactor, 
in  order  to  escape  the  gallows,  had  himself  tonsured, 
learned  a  Latin  prayer,  and  gave  himself  out  for  a 
clergyman. 

The  tribunals  of  the  church  had  extended  their 
power  over  the  laity.  The  church,  which  administers 
all  the  sacraments,  it  was  said,  should  judge  in  all 
affairs  pertaining  to  the  sacraments,  and  they  were 
many. 

Marriage,  from  the  establishment  of  Christianity, 
had  become  a  sacrament.     The  intending  parties  ac- 


THE   CHURCH   IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES         103 

companied  by  witnesses,  presented  themselves  in  the 
porch  of  the  church,  the  priest  asked  them  whether 
they  were  consenting  to  the  marriage.  "I,  such 
a  one,"  said  the  man,  "I  take  thee  to  wife."  "I,  such  a 
one,"  responded  the  betrothed,  "I  take  thee  for  my 
husband."  The  parents  of  the  woman  put  her  hand 
in  the  hand  of  the  husband,  the  priest  blessed  the 
ring,  the  symbol  of  alliance.  Then  all  entered  the 
church,  and  the  priest  said  a  mass  over  the  kneeling 
couple,  who  were  covered  with  a  canopy.  This  cere- 
mony put  marriage  in  the  power  of  the  church.  In 
the  time  of  the  Roman  law,  the  will  of  the  couple  was 
sufficient  to  conclude  or  to  break  off  a  marriage. 
Christians,  on  the  contrary,  could  be  married  only 
when  the  church  permitted  it  (often  it  forbade  the 
union  even  of  distant  relatives)  ;  once  married,  it  was 
for  life,  for  the  sacrament  which  bound  them  was  in- 
dissoluble. Thus  divorce  disappeared ;  when  living 
together  became  impossible,  the  church  permitted  only 
the  separation  of  body,  which  does  not  dissolve 
marriage. 

The  church  also  adjudicated  wills,  for  a  man  could 
not  make  a  will  until  he  had  confessed,  and  confession 
was  a  sacrament.  "Unconfessed,  intestate,"  says  the 
proverb.  The  church  refused  to  inter  any  who  had 
not  confessed,  and  was,  therefore,  intestate ;  usage 
demanded  that  in  a  testament  there  should  always  be 
a  legacy  in  favor  of  a  church,  and  it  was  to  the  tribunal 
of  the  church  that  all  suits  concerning  wills  were 
brought. 

The  church  also  judged  the  laity,  who  were  guilty 
of  any  crime  against  religion:  heretics,  blasphemers, 


104  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

usurers  (as  the  church  forbade  usury).  Innocent  III. 
pretended  that  the  church  ought  to  judge  all  sins. 

The  tribunals  of  the  church,  down  to  the  sixteenth 
century,  in  many  countries,  were  more  busy  than  were 
the  civil  tribunals. 

The  Papacy. — The  popes  in  the  tenth  century,  like 
the  other  bishops  of  Italy,  had  fallen  under  the  domin- 
ion of  the  laity ;  the  lords,  and  demi-brigands  of  Rome, 
withdrawing  into  the  ruins  of  the  antique  monuments 
had  the  pope  elected  to  suit  themselves.  The  Holy 
See  was  for  a  time  the  property  of  a  family  of  barons. 
The  women  of  that  family,  Theodora  and  Marozia, 
chose  the  sovereign  pontiff.  One  pope  was  twelve 
years  old ;  another  sold  the  papacy  to  his  successor. 
The  Emperor  Henry  III.  put  an  end  to  these  scandals, 
but  he  himself  named  the  popes.  The  partisans  of 
the  reform  movement  were  not  willing  that  the  highest 
dignity  of  the  church  should  be  in  subjection  to  a  lay- 
man. Leo  IX.,  chosen  pope  by  his  cousin,  the  emperor, 
presented  himself  at  the  gates  of  Rome,  as  a  pilgrim, 
and  insisted  on  being  chosen  according  to  the  regu- 
lations, by  the  clergy  and  the  people  of  Rome.  Then 
the  Lateran  Council  of  1061  decided  that  in  the 
future  the  pope  should  be  chosen  by  the  cardinals, 
that  is,  the  priests  of  Rome  and  the  bishops  of  the 
small  towns  of  the  Roman  Campagna ;  confirmation  of 
the  election  by  the  emperor  was  still  demanded,  but 
soon  even  that  was  omitted.  This  mode  of  election, 
which  is  still  in  use,  has  rendered  the  papacy  inde- 
pendent of  the  people  of  Rome  and  of  foreign  sover- 
eigns. As  soon  as  he  had  become  independent,  the 
pope  began  to  purify  the  church  of  the  secular  spirit 


THE   CHURCH   IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES         105 

by  attacking  the  marriage  of  the  priests,  simony,  and 
investiture  by  the  laity. 

Dispute  About  Investitures. — According  to  the  an- 
cient rules  of  the  church,  the  bishop  ought  to  have 
been  chosen  by  his  canons,  the  abbot  by  his  monks. 
But  to  every  bishopric,  to  every  abbey,  were  attached 
great  domains  given  to  them  in  fief  by  the  king.  The 
king,  especially  in  Germany,  reserved  to  himself  the 
right  of  naming  those  who  should  enjoy  these  fiefs, 
when  a  bishop  or  an  abbot  died :  the  canons  or  the 
monks  brought  to  the  king  the  insignia  of  the  episcopal 
or  abbatical  dignity,  the  crosier,  symbol  of  authority, 
the  ring,  symbol  of  the  alliance  of  the  prelate  and  the 
church.  The  king  chose  whom  he  wished,  usually  an 
ecclesiastic  of  the  court,  made  him  take  the  oath  of 
fealty,  and  invested  him :  that  is  to  say,  gave  him  the 
crosier  and  the  ring.  This  custom  was  revolting  to 
the  reformers  in  the  church.  "Can  it  be  admitted," 
said  Pope  Urban  II.,  "that  hands  which  have  the 
supreme  honor  of  creating  the  Creator,  should  be 
reduced  to  the  infamy  of  submitting  to  hands  soiled 
with  rapine  and  with  blood?"  To  receive  an  ecclesi- 
astical dignity  from  a  layman  is  to  traffic  in  holy 
things,  and  to  commit  the  mortal  sin  of  simony.  Then 
the  pope  demanded  that  the  emperor  should  permit 
the  election  of  the  bishops  and  abbots,  to  take  place 
according  to  the  canonical  rules.  The  emperor  an- 
swered, "The  bishoprics  and  the  abbeys  are  'des 
regales,'  "  1  that  is,  portions  of  the  royal  domain,  and 
the  emperor  alone  has  the  right  to  confer  them.   Thus 

1  Regales,  right  to  receive  revenues  of  ecclesiastical  domains. 
—Ed. 


106  MEDLEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

arose  between  emperors  and  popes  the  dispute  about 
investiture.  The  pope  was  supported  by  the  monks 
and  the  partisans  of  the  reform,  the  emperor  had  on 
his  side,  the  bishops  and  abbots  of  Germany  and  of 
Lombardy,  his  vassals  and  the  married  priests.  When 
the  bishop  of  Coire  came,  in  1075,  to  communicate  to 
the  archbishop  of  Mayence  the  order  of  the  pope 
forbidding  the  marriage  of  priests,  all  the  clergy,  pres- 
ent in  the  assembly,  arose  in  wrath,  insulted  the  arch- 
bishop and  forbade  him  to  accept  that  order. 

The  contest  lasted  for  half  a  century  (1 075-1 122). 
The  "regales,"  the  political  power  of  the  bishops  ren- 
dered agreement  most  difficult.  Pope  Parsad  solved 
the  difficulty  by  deciding  that  tlje  bishops  should  give 
up  "the  cities,  counties,  mints,  tolls,  chateaux,  do- 
mains and  rights"  which  they  held  from  the  emperor. 
The  clergy  did  not  desire  this  arrangement,  and  when 
peace  was  made  in  1122,  the  bishops  held  to  their 
"regales."  The  emperor  conceded  that  the  bishops 
and  abbots  should  be  chosen  by  the  canons  or  the 
monks,  and  should  receive  from  them  the  crosier  and 
the  ring,  but  he  reserved  the  right  to  invest  them  with 
their  temporalities  by  the  sceptre,  as  was  done  to  the 
lay  princes. 

THE    PAPACY    TRIUMPHANT 

Rivalry  of  Pope  and  Emperor. — So  long  as  the  pope 
and  the  emperor  were  agreed  to  govern  in  common, 
as  was  done  under  Charlemagne,  there  was  no  reason 
for  distinguishing  their  powers  and  for  defining  their 
rights.     It  was  said  that  God  had  given  two  swords, 


THE   CHURCH    IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES         107 

the  temporal  to  the  emperor,  the  spiritual  to  the  pope, 
in  order  that  they  should  together  rule  the  world.  But 
when  the  pope  and  the  emperor  made  war  on  each 
other,  one  had  to  ask,  "what  are  the  rights,  what  are 
the  limits  of  the  spiritual  and  of  the  temporal  power  ?" 
This  difficult  question,  which  succeeding  centuries  have 
not  been  able  to  answer,  is  still  discussed  under  the 
name  of  "Relations  between  Church  and  State." 

In  the  Middle  Ages  it  was  difficult  to  conceive  of 
two  equal,  independent  powers.  Pope  or  emperor, 
which  should  command  the  other  ?  Each  of  them  pre- 
tended to  supreme  power;  the  emperor  as  heir  of  the 
Roman  Caesars,  whose  title  he  bore,  demanded  the 
right  to  govern  the  world  (that  is  the  signification 
of  the  globe,  which  figures  among  the  imperial  in- 
signia). The  pope  said:  "In  giving  to  Saint  Peter 
the  sovereign  right  to  loose  and  unloose  in  heaven, 
and  upon  the  earth,  God  has  excepted  no  one.  God 
has  put  under  him  all  princes,  all  powers  in  the  uni- 
verse. God  has  made  him  prince  over  the  kingdoms 
of  this  world."  (Epistle  of  Gregory  VII.)  The  pope 
is  superior  to  all  the  princes,  he  is  their  judge ;  if  he 
finds  them  unworthy  of  reigning  he  can  excommuni- 
cate them,  depose  them,  and  release  their  subjects  from 
the  oath  of  fealty.  Gregory  VII.  applied  this  maxim 
in  deposing  Henry  IV.  The  contest  between  the  two 
powers  was  a  long  one.  Begun  in  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury on  the  subject  of  investiture,  and  continued  with 
regard  to  the  rights  of  the  emperor  over  the  cities  of 
Lombardy,  it  lasted  until  1250.  The  emperor  was 
beaten,  because  his  power  over  the  world  was  imagi- 
nary :  he  had  no  authority  save  in  Germany,  and  in 


108  MEDLEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

Italy,  still  he  could  not  make  himself  obeyed  either  by 
the  German  princes  or  by  the  Italian  towns. 

Supremacy  of  the  Pope.— The  pope  supported  by  the 
regenerated  clergy  was,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  the 
real  chief  of  the  Christian  world.  He  goverened  all 
the  clergy,  and  all  believers  through  the  clergy.  He 
had  reserved  for  himself  the  right  to  convoke  coun- 
cils, to  depose  bishops,  to  absolve  great  criminals,  to 
give  dispensations.  He  communed  on  an  elevated 
throne,  and  had  his  feet  kissed.  His  letters  had  the 
force  of  law  throughout  the  church,  and  they  thus 
defined  his  power:  "The  Creator,"  said  Innocent  III., 
"has  established  in  the  firmament  of  the  church,  two 
dignities ;  the  more  considerable,  the  papacy  which  pre- 
sides over  the  souls  of  men,  as  the  sun  rules  over  the 
day ;  the  less  important,  the  royalty  which  presides  over 
their  bodies  as  the  moon  over  the  night.  The  papacy 
takes  precedence  of  royalty  just  as  the  sun  does  of  the 
moon."  "God  has  given  to  Saint  Peter  the  mission 
to  govern  not  only  the  church  universal,  but  the  world. 
As  all  creatures  in  heaven,  in  earth,  and  under  the 
earth  must  bend  the  knee  before  God,  so  must  all 
obey  his  vicar,  so  there  shall  be  but  one  flock  and  one 
shepherd."  In  1296,  Boniface  VIII.  wrote  to  the 
King  of  France :  "Listen,  my  son,  to  the  words  of  a 
tender  father.  Beware  of  the  belief  that  thou  hast 
no  superior,  and  that  thou  art  not  subject  to  the  chief 
of  the  hierarchy."  And  in  1300  in  the  celebrated  bull 
"Unam  Sanctam" :  "The  church  is  unique,  it  is  a 
single  body  with  but  one  head ;  this  head  is  the  suc- 
cessor of  Saint  Peter.  We  learn  through  the  Gospel 
that  in  this  church  there  are  two  swords,  the  temporal 


THE   CHURCH    IN    THE   MIDDLE   AGES         109 

and  the  spiritual;  the  one  must  be  employed  by  the 
church,  and  the  hand  of  the  pope,  the  other  by  the 
church  and  the  hand  of  the  king  under  orders  from 
the  pope." 

During  the  earlier  centuries  there  were  no  laws  in 
the  church  except  the  canon  law,  that  is,  the  rules 
established  by  the  councils.  When  the  pope  had  suc- 
ceeded in  making  all  the  clergy  recognize  his  author- 
ity, his  decretals  became  the  laws  of  the  church,  as 
formerly  the  edicts  of  the  Roman  emperor  were  the 
laws  of  the  empire.  Gratian,  an  Italian  priest  of  the 
twelfth  century,  gathered  together  all  the  decretals 
attributed  to  the  former  popes  and  made  a  collection 
which  was  called  the  Decretum.  To  this  Decretum, 
the  popes  of  the  thirteenth  century  added  successively 
several  new  collections  composed  of  the  letters  of  the 
popes  which  had  appeared  after  the  first  compilation. 
Thus,  as  Justinian  had  formed  the  body  of  civil  law, 
so  did  the  popes  form  the  body  of  the  canon  law, 
which  has  remained  the  law  of  the  church. 


CHAPTER   VIII 
ORIENTAL  CIVILIZATION  IN  THE  WEST 

Superiority  of  the  Peoples  of  the  Orient. — Let  us 

examine  the  two  civilizations  into  which,  in  the 
eleventh  century,  the  old  world  was  divided;  in  the 
West  miserable  small  towns,  cabins  of  peasants,  rude 
fortresses,  a  country  always  disturbed  by  war,  where 
one  could  not  go  ten  leagues  without  running  the  risk 
of  being  plundered.  In  the  East,  Constantinople, 
Cairo,  Bagdad,  Damascus,  all  the  cities  of  the  "Thou- 
sand and  One  Nights,"  with  their  palaces  of  marble, 
their  workshops,  their  schools,  their  bazaars,  their 
gardens  which  extended  several  leagues,  a  country 
well-watered,  and  covered  with  villages,  and  the  con- 
tinual movement  of  the  merchants  going  from  Spain 
to  Persia.  No  doubt  the  Moslem  and  Byzantine  world 
was  richer,  better  policed,  more  enlightened  than  the 
western  world.  The  Christians  felt  themselves  in- 
ferior in  culture,  they  naturally  admired  the  marvels 
of  the  Orient,  and  those  who  wanted  instruction  went 
into  the  Arabic  schools. 

In  the  eleventh  century,  the  two  worlds  of  the  Orient 
and  the  Occident  began  to  get  acquainted  with  each 
other;  the  barbarous  Christians  penetrated  the  lands 
of  the  civilized  Moslems  by  two  paths,  war  and  com- 
merce. 


ORIENTAL   CIVILIZATION    IN   THE    WEST      111 

The  Crusades. — The  Moslems  had  ended  their  holy 
war,  the  Christians  began  theirs;  this  was  the  Cru- 
sades. The  first  crusade  was  organized  at  Clermont 
in  1095  by  Pope  Urban  II.,  who  was  a  Frenchman. 
It  was  for  the  purpose  of  going  to  deliver  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  (the  tomb  of  Christ)  from  the  hands  of  the 
infidels.  Those  who  departed  put  a  cross  on  the 
shoulder,  the  cross  of  the  pope,  hence  the  name 
crusade. 

The  crusader  was  an  armed  pilgrim ;  the  pope  had 
promised  remission  of  penance  for  all  sins  committed 
by  whoever  would  take  part  in  the  expedition. 

The  penitents  were  joined  by  Italian  merchants, 
and  by  knights  in  search  of  adventure.  They  profited 
by  the  victories  of  the  crusaders  over  the  Moslems  in 
order  to  establish  themselves  in  Syria,  where  they 
founded  principalities  (these  foreigners  were  called 
Franks).1  In  1204,  an  expedition  directed  by  the 
Venetians  turned  aside  to  Constantinople  and  con- 
quered the  Greek  empire.  The  crusades  begun  about 
the  end  of  the  eleventh  century,  lasted  until  the  thir- 
teenth, and  until  the  fifteenth  century  it  was  often  a 
question  of  resumption.  In  Spain,  the  last  crusade 
was  the  taking  of  Granada,  1492. 

Character  of  the  Crusades. —  The  crusades  were  ex- 
peditions of  Christians  organized  by  the  pope,  the 
common  head  of  the  Christians ;  every  crusader  was 
an  armed  pilgrim  whose  penance  had  been  remitted. 
The  pilgrims  were  gathered  in  large  bodies  about  the 
most  powerful  lords  or  around  the  legate  of  the  pope 

1  The  Arabs  called  all  western  Christians  Franks,  because  in 
the  ninth  century  they  were  a  part  of  the  Frank  Empire. 


112  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

but  they  were  not  subject  to  any  discipline ;  they 
remained  free  to  pass  over  to  another  troop,  or  even 
to  abandon  the  expedition  when  they  judged  their 
vow  was  accomplished.  An  army  of  crusaders  was 
then  only  a  union  of  bands  following  the  same  route. 
They  marched  in  disorder  and  slowly,  mounted  on  big 
horses,  clothed  in  a  heavy  armor,  encumbered  with 
baggage,  servants  and  camp-followers. 

They  lost  months  in  traversing  the  Byzantine  Em- 
pire and  in  fighting  the  Turkish  cavalry  of  Asia  Minor. 
In  the  deserts,  where  water  was  scarce,  and  where 
they  could  not  renew  their  stock  of  provisions,  men 
and  horses  died  of  hunger,  thirst  and  fatigue ;  in  the 
camps  where  they  stopped,  the  lack  of  care,  privations, 
fasts,  alternating  with  excesses  at  table  and  in  drink- 
ing, caused  epidemics  which  carried  them  off  by 
thousands. 

Of  all  who  departed,  very  few  arrived  in  Syria. 
So  that  in  the  twelfth  century  along  the  route  to  the 
Holy  Land  there  was  a  terrible  destruction  of  men. 
The  crusaders  at  last  gave  up  the  pilgrimages  by  land, 
and  in  the  thirteenth  century  all  took  their  way  over 
the  sea ;  the  Italian  ships  in  a  few  months  transported 
them  and  their  horses  to  the  Holy  Land,  where  real 
war  was  made.  In  the  combats  with  an  equal  number 
of  Moslems  the  knights  had  the  advantage ;  with  their 
heavy  horses  and  impenetrable  armor  they  formed 
compact  battalions  that  the  Saracen  cavalry,  mounted 
upon  small  horses,  could  not  injure  with  their  arrows 
and  sabers.  It  is  true  that  their  victories  had  hardly 
any  results;  the  conquering  crusaders  went  back  to 
Europe  and  the  Moslems  returned  to  the  Holy  City. 


ORIENTAL   CIVILIZATION    IN   THE    WEST      113 

These  intermittent  armies  could  have  conquered  the 
Holy  Land,  but  they  would  have  been  inadequate  to 
guard  and  keep  it.  But  to  the  crusaders  coming  to 
work  out  their  salvation  were  joined  knights  and  mer- 
chants, who  had  come  to  make  their  fortunes  and  who 
were  determined  to  hold  the  country.  It  is  to  them 
that  the  success  of  the  crusades  is  due,  while  using  for 
the  moment  the  force  which  the  mass  of  crusaders 
gave  them.  They  directed  the  operations  and  con- 
structed machines  for  sieges,  took  the  towers  and  forti- 
fied them  in  expectation  of  the  return  of  the  enemy. 
Left  to  themselves,  the  crusaders  were  incapable  of 
making  war  in  those  distant  countries.  The  pompous 
expeditions  led  by  sovereigns  (Conrad,  Frederic  Bar- 
barossa,  Philip  Augustus,  the  King  of  Hungary,  Saint 
Louis)  all  finished  miserably.  The  only  crusaders 
which  were  really  successful — the  first,  which  con- 
quered Syria,  and  the  fourth,  which  conquered  the 
Greek  empire — were  led,  one  by  the  Normans  of  Italy, 
the  other  by  the  Venetians.  The  enthusiasm  and 
bravery  of  the  crusaders  were  blind  forces,  which  only 
served  when  directed  by  men  of  experience.  The 
crusaders  were  nothing  but  auxiliaries.  The  real 
founders  of  the  Christian  kingdoms  were  the  adven- 
turers and  the  merchants,  who,  like  the  modern  emi- 
grants, left  their  country  to  establish  themselves  in 
the  Orient. 

These  emigrants  were  never  sufficiently  numerous 
to  people  the  country;  they  remained  encamped 
among  the  native  peoples.  The  Frank  principalities 
consisted  only  of  an  aristocracy  composed  of  French 
knights  and  Italian  merchants.     They  could  not  have 


114  MEDLEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

the  solidarity  of  the  states  of  the  Occident  which 
rested  upon  nationality.  They  resembled  the  states 
founded  by  the  Arabian  and  Turkish  war-lords,  where 
the  state  was  entirely  confounded  with  the  army  and 
perished  with  it.  These  principalities  lasted  nearly 
two  centuries,  a  long  life  for  Oriental  states.  A  large 
emigration  alone  could  have  maintained  them  in  face 
of  Moslem  and  Byzantine  Asia;  the  Europe  of  the 
Middle  Ages  could  not  furnish  that  emigration. 

During  half  a  century  they  had  to  fight  only  the 
petty  princes  of  Syria;  the  Moslems  of  Egypt  lived 
with  them  in  peace,  and  that  was  the  time  of  their 
prosperity.  But  when  Saladin  had  destroyed  the  Cali- 
phate of  Cairo  and  in  its  place  the  military  state  of  the 
Mamelukes  was  formed,  the  Christians,  attacked  from 
the  direction  of  or  by  Egypt,  could  no  longer  resist. 
If  they  had  continued  to  keep  their  states  for  a  century 
it  was  because  the  sultan  did  not  care  to  destroy  them. 
Doubtless  the  war  was  a  Holy  War  for  the  Moslems 
as  Well  as  for  the  Christians.  But  it  was  interrupted 
by  frequent  truces  of  several  years'  duration.  All  the 
Christian  princes  should  not  be  represented  as  united 
against  the  Moslem  princes;  political  interests  were 
stronger  than  religious  hatred.  Christians  fought 
continually  against  Christians,  and  Moslems  against 
Moslems.  Sometimes  even  a  Christian  prince  made 
an  alliance  with  a  Moslem  prince  against  another 
Christian  prince. 

Never  was  there  perfect  accord  in  the  camp  of  the 
Christians.  The  religious  enthusiasm  which  united 
them  did  not  destroy  commercial  rivalry  nor  race 
hatred ;   there    were   continual   disputes   between   the 


ORIENTAL   CIVILIZATION    IN   THE   WEST      115 

princes  of  the  different  states,  between  French,  Ger- 
man and  English,  between  the  merchants  of  Genoa 
and  those  of  France,  between  the  Templars  and  the 
Hospitallers.  The  same  discords  arose  between  the 
crusaders  coming  from  Europe  and  the  Franks  already 
living  in  Syria.  While  living  among  the  Oriental 
peoples  the  Franks  had  adopted  their  customs ;  they 
had  organized  a  light  cavalry,  armed  in  the  Turkish 
fashion.  They  were  disposed  to  treat  the  Moslems 
as  neighbors,  and  were  not  inclined  to  make  war 
upon  them  without  any  motive  for  doing  so.  The 
knights  from  the  West,  who  arrived  full  of  wrath 
against  the  infidels,  wanted  to  exterminate  all  and 
were  indignant  at  this  tolerance.  As  soon  as  they  had 
disembarked  they  rushed  over  the  Moslem  territory, 
eager  for  battle  and  pillage,  often  without  listening  to 
the  counsels  of  the  Christians  in  the  country,  who  were 
more  experienced  in  Oriental  wars.  The  Occidental 
writers  treated  the  Christians  of  the  Holy  Land  as 
cowards,  traitors,  and  corrupt,  and  attributed  to  them 
the  ruin  of  the  Syrian  states.  What  truth  is  there  in 
these  accusations?  Doubtless  the  Frank  adventurers 
quickly  enriched,  living  in  luxury,  in  contact  with  a 
corrupt  population,  must  have  contracted  many  vices, 
especially  those  of  Syrian  origin.  But  the  crusaders 
were  not  in  a  position  to  judge  them.  They  them- 
selves, by  their  improvidence,  caused  more  disasters 
than  did  the  Syrian  Christians  by  their  want  of  vigor. 
Commerce.— The  direct  result  of  the  crusades  was 
of  short  duration  ;  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  could  not 
hold  out  against  the  Turks  and  was  destroyed  in  1291  ; 
the  Latin  empire  founded  in   1204  u'as  destroyed  by 


116  MEDIAEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

the  Byzantines.  But  each  year  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
attracted  thousands  of  pilgrims.  In  order  to  transport 
these,  a  service  of  ships  was  organized,  dq^arting  from 
the  ports  of  Venice,  Genoa,  and  Marseilles.  Thus 
began  the  regular  communication  between  Italy  and 
the  Levant. 

The  objects  of  luxury  and  the  products  of  the  warm 
countries,  spices  from  India,  pepper,  nutmegs,  ginger, 
cinnamon,  ivory,  silks  from  China,  carpets,  sugar, 
cotton,  paper,  were  found  only  in  the  markets  of  Con- 
stantinople, Bagdad,  and  Alexandria.  These  products, 
much  sought  after  by  the  western  peoples,  who  bought 
them  at  any  price,  promised  large  profits.  The  people 
of  Venice,  subjects  of  the  Byzantine  empire,  had 
begun  by  carrying  on  commerce  with  Byzantium.  In 
the  twelfth  century  they  preferred  to  get  the  merchan- 
dise of  the  Orient  at  its  source ;  the  great  commercial 
cities  of  that  epoch,  Venice,  Genoa,  and  Pisa,  sent  their 
ships  to  the  ports  of  Palestine,  which  were  the  depots 
of  caravans  from  Damascus  and  from  Bagdad. 

In  the  thirteenth  century,  after  the  taking  of  Con- 
stantinople, the  Venetian  merchants  had  a  quarter  in 
the  city  and  had  counting-houses  even  on  the  Black 
Sea,  where  they  carried  on  commerce  with  Tre- 
bizond.  Pisa  obtained  permission  from  the  Moslem 
princes  of  Egypt  and  Tripoli  to  trade  with  their  sub- 
jects ;  Venice  and  Genoa  concluded  similar  treaties, 
and  from  that  time  the  ships  of  Venice  and  Genoa, 
laden  with  spices  and  stuffs,  regularly  visited  Alexan- 
dria. The  relations  of  the  Occident  and  Orient,  begun 
through  a  war  among  believers,  ended  in  business 
relations  among  merchants.    The  German  traders  who 


ORIENTAL   CIVILIZATION    IN   THE    WEST      117 

until  the  eleventh  century  had  brought  the  produce 
from  Constantinople  up  the  Danube,  preferred  to  cross 
the  Alps  and  buy  from  the  Italian  merchants.  The 
great  highway  of  commerce  was  changed.  Trade 
abandoned  the  Danube  and,  leaving  Alexandria,  passed 
through  Venice,  the  Brenner  Pass,  Augsburg,  and 
Nuremberg. 

Introduction  of  Oriental  Civilization  into  the  Occi- 
dent— By  contact  with  the  Orientals  the  people  of  the 
West  became  civilized.  It  is  often  very  difficult  to  tell 
precisely  by  what  means  an  invention  of  the  Orient 
has  reached  us,  whether  it  came  to  us  through  the 
crusaders  from  Palestine,1  through  the  Italian  mer- 
chants, through  the  Saracens  from  Sicily,  or  through 
the  Moors  from  Spain.  But  we  can  make  a  statement 
of  what  we  owe  to  the  Arabs,  and  this  statement  is  a 
long  one. 

From  the  Arabs  we  have : 

I.  Buckwheat,  asparagus,  hemp,  flax,  saffron,  rice, 
the  mulberry,  palm,  lemon  and  orange  trees,  even  cof- 
fee, cotton  and  sugar-cane,  which  have  become  the 
chief  objects  of  culture  in  America. 

II.  The  greater  part  of  our  manufactured  articles 
of  luxury,  linen,  damask,  morocco,  silk  stuffs  embossed 
with  gold  and  silver,  muslin,  gauze,  taffeta,  velvet 
(later  brought  to  perfection  in  Italy),  crystal  and  plate 
glass,  imitated  in  Venice,  paper,  sugar,  confectionery 
and  syrups. 

1  Perhaps  the  part  taken  by  the  crusaders  in  this  work 
of  civilization  has  been  exaggerated.  The  crusaders  from 
Palestine  were  scarcely  in  contact  with  any  one  but  the 
Turkish  warriors,  new-comers  in  the  Moslem  world  and  almost 
barbarians. 


118  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

III.  The  beginning  of  several  of  our  sciences, 
algebra,  trigonometry,  chemistry,  and  the  Arabic  fig- 
ures, which  the  Arabs  themselves  had  borrowed  from 
the  Hindoos  and  which  have  made  easy  the  most 
complex  calculations,  to  say  nothing  of  magic,  talis- 
mans, in  which  the  Italians  have  believed  even  down 
to  our  day,  and  the  philosopher's  stone,  which  alchem- 
ists in  the  pay  of  certain  German  princes  were  still 
searching  for  as  late  as  the  seventeenth  century.  The 
Arabs  had  amassed  and  condensed  all  the  inventions 
and  all  the  knowledge  of  the  old  worlds  of  the  Orient 
(Greece,  Persia,  India,  and  even  China)  ;  this  is  what 
they  have  transmitted  to  us ;  a  number  of  Arabic  words 
which  enter  into  our  language1  are  a  testimony  of 
this ;  through  them  the  western  world,  having  returned 
to  barbarism,  became  once  more  civilized.  If  our 
ideas  and  our  arts  go  back  to  antiquity,  all  the  inven- 
tions which  make  life  easy  and  agreeable  come  to  us 
from  the  Arabs. 

Influence  of  the  Orient  on  Belief This  contact  with 

the  East  acted  upon  the  religious  ideas  of  the  Chris- 
tians. At  first  they  were  over-excited  by  the  struggle. 
But  on  seeing  the  infidels  close  at  hand  they  found 
among  them  men  grave,  enlightened,  generous,  like 
Saladin,  who  released  the  Christian  prisoners  without 
•  a  ransom  and  sent  his  own  physician  to  care  for  a 
crusader  chief  who  was  ill,  and  they  began  to  respect 
them.  Wishing  to  prove  the  merits  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion to  the  Moslems  and  to  the  Jews,  they  discussed 
with  them,  and  the  discussion  forced  them  to  compare 

1  Alcohol,  elixir,  algebra,  alembic,  alcove,  sofa,  amulet,  gala, 
arsenal,  admiral,  zenith,  cipher,  zero,  etc. 


ORIENTAL   CIVILIZATION    IN   THE    WEST      119 

the  three  religions.  From  that  comparison  some  con- 
cluded that  the  three  religions  were  equally  false, 
since  each  pretended  to  be  the  only  true  religion ;  there 
were,  said  they,  three  great  impostors :  Moses,  Jesus 
Christ  and  Mahomet,  who  had  deceived  the  Jews, 
Christians  and  Moslems.  This  phrase  attributed 
(wrongly)  to  the  Emperor  Frederic  II.  circulated  in 
Italy  during  the  thirteenth  century.  Others  on  the 
contrary  concluded  that  the  three  religions  were 
equally  good,  and  related  this  parable:  A  man  pos- 
sessed a  ring  to  which  his  heritage  was  attached.  As 
he  loved  equally  his  three  sons,  he  had  two  rings  made 
exactly  like  his  own,  and  gave  one  to  each  of  his 
three  sons.  The  father  died.  Each  of  the  three 
claimed  the  succession  attached  to  the  ring,  and  the 
judge  decided  that  all  three  should  inherit.  The 
Christian,  the  Moslem,  the  Jew,  are  all  sons  of  one 
celestial  Father,  who  has  wished  that  all  three  should 
have  part  in  the  heritage.  The  Christians  gave  a 
different  ending  to  the  story :  A  sick  man  was  sent  for 
and  made  to  touch  the  three  rings;  he  was  cured.  In 
touching  the  true  one  the  touchstone  of  the  true  re- 
ligion is  the  miracle,  and  the  miracle  pronounced  in 
favor  of  Christianity. 


CHAPTER   IX 
THE   THIRTEENTH    CENTURY 

PROGRESS    OF    ROYALTY 

Increase  of  the  Royal  Domain. — The  King  of  France 
was  master  only  in  his  own  domain,  and  until  the  end 
of  the  twelfth  century  his  domain  was  a  small  one. 
The  policy  of  the  House  of  France  was  that  of  a  family 
of  peasants  seeking  to  aggrandize  and  round  out  its 
domain.  By  purchase,  marriage  or  conquest  slowly  it 
acquired,  sometimes  a  province,  sometimes  a  small 
county,  sometimes  a  single  seigniory.  Under  Philip 
Augustus  the  domain  was  suddenly  increased  three- 
fold by  the  conquest  of  the  domains  of  the  Duke  of 
Normandy.  The  king  had  then  more  knights  in  his 
army,  more  money  in  his  coffers,  more  subjects  on  his 
lands  than  any  other  prince  in  France ;  he  was  for  the 
first  time  the  most  powerful  seignior  of  his  kingdom. 
In  his  domains,  scattered  throughout  France,  he  estab- 
lished bailiffs,  agents  acting  under  power  of  attorney, 
who  began  to  annoy  the  bailiffs  of  the  great  lords,  and 
who  made  the  name  of  the  king  everywhere  respected. 

Paris  Under  Philip  Augustus. —  Paris  in  the  ninth 
century,  at  the  period  of  the  siege  by  the  Normans, 
was  wholly  confined  to  the  island  of  the  Cite.  At  the 
end  of  the  twelfth  century  it  had  extended  over  on 
the  two  banks  of  the  Seine.     In  order  to  put  the  new 


THE   THIRTEENTH   CENTURY  121 

quarters  under  protection  from  the  enemy,  Philip 
Augustus  had  built  entirely  around  the  city  so  en- 
larged a  thick  wall,  flanked  by  towers,  of  which 
remains  are  found  to-day. 

The  Cite  still  remained  the  centre  of  the  town; 
there  was  to  be  found  the  cathedral  (later  Notre 
Dame),  the  residence  of  the  bishop,  the  palace  of  the 
king,  where  Saint  Louis  established  later  his  parle- 
ment  and  which  became  the  palace  of  justice.  On 
the  left  bank  of  the  river,  in  the  direction  of  Mount 
Saint  Genevieve,  lived  the  scholars,  i.e.,  the  students 
and  ecclesiastics,  who  frequented  the  schools;  here 
the  wall  of  the  city  stopped  opposite  the  extremity  of 
the  island,  at  the  Tournelle ;  it  passed  over  Mount 
Saint  Genevieve  and  joined  the  Seine  opposite  the 
Louvre.  On  the  right  bank  the  wall  began  opposite 
the  island  of  the  Cite  and  went  as  far  as  the  Louvre. 
In  this  narrow  space  the  population  was  crowded  to- 
gether, in  order  to  take  up  less  room ;  the  streets  were 
narrow,  tortuous  and  dark,  neither  paved  nor  lighted. 
There  was  almost  no  police;  each  evening  the  curfew 
was  rung,  peaceable  people  withdrew  into  the  house 
and  closed  the  doors,  the  streets  were  given  up  to 
thieves  and  adventurers  of  every  kind,  and  it  was  very 
dangerous  to  venture  into  them. 

The  city  of  Paris  had  no  general  administration. 
It  had  been  built  upon  lands  only  a  part  of  which 
belonged  to  the  king.  Many  quarters,  especially  the 
"faubourgs"  situated  without  the  walls,  were  con- 
structed upon  domains  belonging  to  abbeys  which  had 
been  originally  founded  in  the  country.  Saint  Ger- 
main des  Pres,  beside  the  Pre  aux  Clercs,  and  which 


122  MEDLEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

extended  down  to  the  bank  of  the  Seine,  Saint  Martin 
des  Champs  and  Saint  Genevieve.  In  these  quarters 
the  abbot,  not  the  king,  was  lord,  and  he  had  the  right 
not  only  to  have  the  quit-rents  (cens)  paid  to  himself 
for  the  houses  built  on  his  lands,  but  to  judge  at  his 
tribunals  all  suits  of  the  inhabitants  and  all  crimes 
committed  in  the  quarter.  The  city  of  Paris  did  not 
then  form  a  single  body,  and  even  the  part  which 
properly  belonged  to  the  king  was  not  organized,  as 
were  much  smaller  towns  (Amiens,  Soissons,  etc.). 
Paris  had  neither  charter  nor  mayor  nor  bell- 
tower.  But  at  Paris,  as  in  all  the  other  towns, 
the  workmen  wrho  practised  the  same  calling,  the 
merchants  who  sold  the  same  merchandise,  were 
grouped  in  corporations,  each  of  which  had  its 
regulations,  its  treasury  and  its  chief.  The  most  pow- 
erful corporation  in  Paris  was  that  of  the  water- 
merchants,  that  is,  the  ship-owners  who  carried  on 
commerce  by  boats  upon  the  Seine;  it  had  its  chief,  the 
provost  of  the  merchants,  and  its  administrative  coun- 
cil, the  aldermen.  Gradually  the  provost  of  the  mer- 
chants and  the  aldermen  came  to  be  considered  as  the 
representatives  of  the  citizens  (bourgeois)  of  Paris; 
the  house  where  they  met  for  deliberation  was  called 
the  "hotel  de  ville,"  and  their  reunion  became  the 
corporate  body  of  the  city.  Even  to-day  the  city  of 
Paris  has  on  its  coat-of-arms  a  bark  in  full  sail,  the 
emblem  of  the  ancient  corps  of  water-merchants. 

Philip  Augustus  was  the  first  king  of  France  who 
labored  for  the  betterment  of  his  capital ;  not  only  did 
he  surround  it  by  a  wall,  but  he  had  some  of  the 
streets  of  the  city  paved,  and  the  infectious  sewers 


THE   THIRTEENTH   CENTURY  123 

which  surrounded  his  palace  were  filled  up.  But  it 
was  not  until  the  thirteenth  century  that  handsome 
buildings  were  erected.  In  our  contemporary  Paris, 
there  remains  of  the  Paris  of  Philip  only  the  tower  of 
Saint  Germain  des  Pres  and  the  little  church  of  Saint 
Julien  le  Pauvre. 

Saint  Louis. — Saint  Louis  was  the  perfect  king,  such 
as  he  was  understood  to  be  in  the  Middle  Ages,  a  hum- 
ble Christian,  an  accomplished  knight,  a  severe  judge. 
He  had  all  the  virtues  that  were  understood  in  his 
time,  devotion,  bravery,  and  justice.  He  heard  two 
masses  daily,  was  present  at  matins,  wore  a  hair  shirt, 
washed  the  feet  of  the  poor,  was  disciplined  for  his 
sins,  ordered  the  Jews  to  be  persecuted,  burned  the 
heretics,  and  pierced  with  a  red-hot  iron  the  tongues 
of  blasphemers.  In  battle  "he  proved  the  superior  of 
all  his  race."  "Never,"  says  Joinville,  "did  one  see 
so  handsome  a  knight."  He  was  "wise  in  his  time  as 
a  God."  He  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  dispense  justice 
to  all.  He  often  went  and  seated  himself  under  an  oak 
in  the  forest  of  Vincennes,  or  in  his  garden  in  the 
Cite;  all  who  had  any  business  came  and  spoke  with 
him  without  being  embarrassed  by  his  tipstaffs  (huis- 
siers),  and  he  decided  the  case.  He  wanted  to  render 
equal  justice  to  all.  One  of  the  great  lords  of  the 
kingdom,  Enguerrand  de  Coucy,  had  had  three  stu- 
dents hung  for  having  hunted  in  his  woods.  The  king 
had  him  arrested  and  brought  to  his  court.  The  other 
knights  demanded  that  "according  to  the  custom"  de 
Coucy  should  defend  himself  by  the  duel.  Louis  re- 
fused, saying  that  "in  the  affairs  of  the  poor,  of  the 
church,  or  of  persons  whom  one  ought  to  pity,"  one 


124  MEDLEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

should  not  proceed  by  a  challenge  to  a  duel.  The 
lords,  irritated,  left  the  court.  The  king  went  on  and 
judged  the  case.  *  One  nobleman  cried  ironically,  "If 
I  had  been  the  king  I  would  have  hung  my  barons." 
The  king  heard  it.  "What,  Jean ;  you  say  I  ought  to 
have  hung  my  barons !  Certainly  not ;  but  I  shall  chas- 
tise them  if  they  do  evil."  The  sentiment  of  justice 
was  so  strong  in  Saint  Louis  that  he  exalted  it  even 
above  the  custom.  He  forbade  the  duel1  in  all  his 
domain.  All  affairs  that  had  been  settled  by  duel 
were  to  be  henceforth  judged  by  proof  and  by  testi- 
mony. "For,"  said  he,  "to  fight  is  not  the  way  of 
justice." 

Saint  Louis  sanctified  French  royalty  and  accus- 
tomed the  people  to  regard  the  King  of  France  as  the 
source  of  all  justice. 

Institutions  of  Saint  Louis — Saint  Louis  did  more 
by  his  example  and  by  the  veneration  that  he  inspired 
than  by  the  laws,  properly  speaking.  For  a  long  time 
it  was  believed  that  he  had  had  drawn  up  the  body  of 
laws  called  the  "Etablissements  of  Saint  Louis."  It 
has  been  found  that  these  pretended  "Etablissements" 
were  nothing  more  than  the  union  of  two  manuals  of 
the  common  law,  written  about  the  end  of  the  thir- 
teenth century  by  unknown  practitioners  and  without 
any  relation  to  the  king.  It  was  also  believed  that 
Saint  Louis  was  the  author  of  "Pragmatic  statutes," 
concerning  the  rights  of  the  church  in  France ;  it  is 
certain  that  this  pretended  Pragmatic   Sanction  was 

1  This  ordinance  was  not  always  enforced.  Philip  I.  was  him- 
self present  at  a  duel,  and  Philip  IV.  permitted  the  duel  as 
the  only  means  of  obtaining  justice  for  murder,  in  cases  where 
there  had  been  no  witnesses  to  the  crime. 


THE   THIRTEENTH   CENTURY  125 

fabricated  in  the  fifteenth  century,  probably  after  that 
of  Charles  VII.  The  only  ordinances  which  are  really 
the  work  of  Saint  Louis  are  the  ordinance  concerning 
duels  and  the  ordinance  concerning  the  regulation  of 
the  accounts  of  the  employees  in  his  domains. 

THE   INTELLECTUAL  AND  THE  ARTISTIC 

LIFE 

The  University  of  Paris — Like  all  bishoprics,  Paris 
had  its  school  annexed  to  the  cathedral ;  several  abbeys 
(Saint  Germain  des  Pres,  Saint  Germain  l'Auxerrois, 
Saint  Genevieve)  had  also  their  schools.  The  schol- 
ars, too  numerous  to  find  lodgings  on  the  island,  occu- 
pied the  left  bank  of  the  Seine.  There  from  1103  to 
1 120  a  young,  handsome  and  eloquent  layman,  Abe- 
lard,  the  best  educated  man  of  his  time  (he  knew  a 
little  Hebrew  and  Greek),  had  given  his  lessons  in 
philosophy  before  an  audience  of  three  thousand  peo- 
ple. No  hall  was  large  enough  to  hold  them,  and 
Abelard  spoke  in  the  open  air,  in  the  midst  of  the 
vineyards  which  covered  Mount  Saint  Genevieve. 

It  was  the  general  custom  that  men  of  the  same 
profession  should  be  united  in  a  single  organization ; 
as  there  was  a  corporation  of  tailors,  of  shoemakers, 
and  of  cloth  merchants,  so  there  was  formed  a  single 
corporation  of  all  men  who  were  occupied  with  study. 
This  corporation,  approved  by  the  pope  in  the  thir- 
teenth century,  was  called  the  University  (that  is  to 
say,  the  whole)  of  Masters  and  Scholars  of  Paris. 
It  had  its  chosen  head  (the  rector),  its  servants,  and 
even  its  tribunal,  which  alone  had  the  right  to  judge 


126  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

the  professors  and  students.  Many  times  the  Uni- 
versity of  Paris  was  in  conflict  with  the  provost,  and 
the  king  always  decided  in  its  favor.  In  1403  the 
provost  of  Paris  had  caused  two  students  to  be  hung. 
They  had  been  arrested  in  one  of  those  altercations 
such  as  took  place  almost  every  day  in  those  streets, 
narrow  and  full  of  adventurers.  The  university  closed 
its  courses;  that  was  its  method  of  obtaining  repara- 
tion ;  the  provost  was  obliged  to  go  and  solemnly  take 
down  the  bodies,  bury  them,  and  ask  pardon  of  the 
university  for  having  violated  its  privileges. 

The  university  was  divided  into  as  many  groups  as 
there  were  subjects  taught.  After  law  and  medicine 
had  been  introduced  (they  were  not  taught  in  Paris 
during  the  thirteenth  century)  there  were  four  facul- 
ties, theology,  law,  medicine,  and  the  arts.  The  fac- 
ulty of  liberal  arts  embraced  all  the  sciences  of  the 
trivium  (grammar,  rhetoric,  and  dialectics),  and  the 
quadrivium  (arithmetic,  geometry,  music,  astronomy). 
The  professors  received  a  salary  and  were  paid  besides 
a  certain  sum  by  the  hearers;  they  had  their  lesson 
written  in  a  book,  which  they  came  and  read.  The 
scholars,  men  of  every  age,  dwelt  in  the  city,  but  after 
charitable  persons  had  in  the  thirteenth  century 
founded  houses  for  the  reception  of  poor  students, 
many  lived  as  internes  in  those  colleges  under  a  disci- 
pline founded  upon  conventual  regulations.  Each 
faculty  had  three  degrees  or  grades  of  instruction ;  the 
scholar,  after  having  given  proof  of  his  knowledge  by 
an  examination,  a  thesis,  or  a  discussion,  went  up  a 
grade;  he  became  successively  bachelor,  master,  and 
doctor.     These  degrees  were  sought  after,  for  those 


THE   THIRTEENTH   CENTURY  127 

who  had  them  easily  found  a  place  in  the  churches, 
tribunals,  and  in  the  schools. 

The  University  of  Paris  was,  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, the  largest  school  in  Europe.  More  than  twenty 
thousand  students  came  there  from  all  countries.  It 
has  given  to  Europe  the  outline  of  superior  instruction. 
The  English  universities,  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  have 
been  copied  from  it;  and  when  the  German  princes 
wanted  to  have  schools  in  their  states,  all  founded 
universities  after  the  model  of  that  in  Paris.  From  it 
has  come  the  system  of  grades  and  the  division  into 
faculties  which  exists  intact  in  Germany.1 

The  Roman  Law — The  Italians  had  never  ceased  to 
apply  the  Roman  law.  In  the  eleventh  century  they 
began  again  to  make  a  study  of  the  works  of  Justinian.2 
The  professors  and  the  scholars  gathered  at  Bologna; 
there  were  ten  thousand  of  them.  For  two  centuries 
they  labored  to  explain  the  books  of  the  Roman  law, 
commenting  on  them  line  by  line;  their  commentaries 
formed  a  glossary  upon  which  other  jurists  of  the 
thirteenth  century  based  all  their  new  commentaries. 

In  France,  only  the  provinces  of  the  South,  as  far  as 
Auvergne,  used  the  Roman  law.  The  North  followed 
custom ;  the  parlement  of  Paris  judged  according 
to  custom.  But  the  Roman  law  had  a  great  advan- 
tage over  custom :  it  was  the  only  written  law,  the 

1  In  Germany  the  faculty  of  the  arts  has  taken  the  name  of 
Faculty  of  Philosophy;  in  France  it  was  divided  by  Napoleon 
I.  into  two  parts,   Faculty  of  Letters,  and  Faculty  of  Sciences. 

2  It  has  been  often  said  that  the  Roman  law  had  been  com- 
pletely forgotten,  when  in  1135  the  inhabitants  of  Pisa  brought 
back  maanuscript  of  the  Pandects  after  the  pillage  of  Amain. 
The  only  true  element  in  this  legend  is  that  there  was  at  Pisa  a 
greatly  venerated  manuscript  of  the  Pandects. 


128  MEDLEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

only  one  taught  in  the  schools ;  it  was  called  simply  the 
judgment  or  the  law,  as  opposed  to  the  custom;  the 
judges  and  the  advocates  graduated  in  law  had  passed 
several  years  in  the  study  of  it,  some  at  Bologna,  others 
at  Orleans  or  at  Montpelier.  Now,  the  Roman  law  in 
many  cases  decided  contrary  to  custom;  the  lawyers 
penetrated  by  the  spirit  of  this  law  introduced  it  little 
by  little,  themselves  unaware  of  it,  into  custom. 
This  infiltration  of  Roman  law  began  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  continued  until  after  the  sixteenth  century, 
and  modified  greatly  the  ancient  usage.  Especially 
did  it  enfeeble  the  power  of  the  lords  and  the  com- 
munes, of  which  the  Roman  law  took  no  cognizance ; 
it  strengthened  the  power  of  the  king  and  of  his 
bailiffs,  for  the  lawmakers  applied  to  the  king  all  that 
the  code  said  of  the  Roman  emperors,  and  to  the 
bailiffs  all  that  was  said  to  the  praetors  and  of  the 
Roman  governors.  The  Roman  maxim,  "The  de- 
cision of  the  prince  has  the  force  of  law,"  thus  became 
the  rule  of  the  government  in  France,  then  in  Germany, 
and  it  served  as  the  foundation  for  absolute  power. 

Scholastic  Philosophy. — Theology  remained  during 
all  the  Middle  Ages  the  chief  science  (in  all  the  uni- 
versities the  Faculty  of  Theology  took  precedence  of 
all  the  other  faculties).  But  it  was  to  the  study  of 
philosophy  that  all  active  minds  were  turned ;  all  the 
celebrated  scholars  of  the  Middle  Ages  (Abelard, 
Saint  Thomas,  Duns  Scotus,  Albertus  Magnus)  were 
above  everything  philosophers.  The  "Science  of  the 
Schools,"  scholasticism  was  nothing  but  philosophy 
applied  to  theology.  The  scholastic  philosophers  ac- 
cepted all   the   doctrines   of  the   church.      "It  is  not 


THE  THIRTEENTH   CENTURY  129 

necessary  to  first  understand  in  order  to  believe,"  said 
Guitmond,  bishop  of  Aversa,  "but  first  to  believe  in 
order  to  understand  afterward:"  Later  on  Saint 
Thomas  said :  "The  truth  of  reason  is  not  in  contradic- 
tion to  the  truth  of  the  Christian  faith."  But  the 
scholastics  had  also  studied  Aristotle  (they  knew  him 
through  bad  Latin  translations  which  had  been  made 
from  the  Arabic)  ;  full  of  admiration  for  his  logic,  they 
thought  that  in  employing  his  process  of  reasoning 
they  could  solve  the  questions  which  the  church  had 
not  settled.  These  questions  were  often  singularly 
subtle :  "Whether  God  was  able  to  know  more  things 
than  he  did  know?"  (Peter  Lombard.)  "Whether  the 
impossibility  of  being  engendered  is  a  constituent  prop- 
erty of  the  first  person  of  the  Trinity?"  (Duns  Scotus.) 
"Whether  the  body  of  the  resurrected  Christ  bore 
scars?"  "Whether  the  dove  in  which  the  Holy  Spirit 
appeared  was  a  veritable  bird?"  (Saint  Thomas.) 

The  scholastics  were  hard  workers;  Duns  Scotus, 
"the  Subtle  Doctor,"  dead  at  31,  left  more  than 
twelve  folio  volumes.  Saint  Thomas,  "the  Universal 
Doctor,"  has  recapitulated  in  his  "Summa"  all  the  ideas 
of  the  Middle  Ages;  the  abridgment  of  the  "Summa" 
has  remained  the  manual  of  theology  in  the  Catholic 
seminaries.  Raymond  Lulle,  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, had  invented  "the  grand  art,"  a  machine  for 
reasoning  without  the  employment  of  intelligence.  But 
as  the  scholastic  philosophers  employed  only  deductive 
reasoning  without  ever  examining  the  facts,  they  added 
nothing  to  human  knowledge.  Their  philosophy  has 
remained  as  they  themselves  have  said,  "the  hand- 
maid of  theology." 


130  MEDIAEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

Libraries  and  Scholastic  Literature. — In  the  large 
monasteries  there  were  always  some  monks  occupied 
in  copying  and  illuminating  books ;  they  transcribed  the 
manuscripts  which  their  convent  had  borrowed  from 
another  convent.  The  libraries  thus  formed  did  not 
exceed  a  few  hundred  volumes  (Fecamp  had  148,  Saint 
Evroul  138),  for  books  were  rare  and  parchment  was 
dear.  All  the  books  were  in  Latin ;  the  greater  number 
were  books  of  devotion,  the  Holy  Scriptures,  writings 
of  the  Fathers  of  the  church,  prayer-books,  lives  of 
saints;  the  rigid  monks  did  not  admit  any  other  kind 
of  books  into  their  libraries.  "Neither  Cicero  nor 
Vergil,"  said  they,  "is  necessary  to  salvation."  But 
in  the  most  literary  convents  were  to  be  found  some  of 
the  masterpieces  of  Latin  literature,  Cicero,  Vergil, 
Horace,  Pliny  the  Younger,  and  the  Consolation  of 
Boethius. 

The  clergy  of  the  Middle  Ages,  bishops,  abbots  and 
monks,  wrote  much  on  their  own  account.1  They 
wrote  letters,  pieces  of  verse,  treatises  on  theology, 
chronicles  where  was  related  the  history  of  the  world 
from  the  creation  down  to  the  time  of  the  author, 
annals,  composed  of  dry  and  brief  accounts,  written 
year  by  year,  where  there  are  reports  of  famines,  epi- 
demics, comets,  battles,  the  deaths  of  kings  and  abbots. 
All  were  in  Latin,  a  prolix,  florid  and  pompous  Latin, 
full  of  quotations,  very  like  the  Latin  of  a  student. 

The  men  of  the  Middle  Ages  had  timid  spirits,  they 
believed  themselves  inferior  to  their  predecessors  and 
had  no  other  ambition  than  to  imitate  them.    We  find 

1  The  literary  History  of  France  by  the  Benedictines  has 
accounts  of  several  hundred  writers. 


THE  THIRTEENTH   CENTURY  131 

here  and  there,  in  their  letters,  some  thoughts  forcibly 
expressed,  in  these  chronicles  some  living  pages,  but 
their  literature  is  the  literature  of  pupils.  They  had 
application,  but  originality  was  wanting. 

Popular  Literature — For  the  laymen  in  the  towns 
and  castles,  who  did  not  know  Latin,  works  in  the 
vulgar  tongue,  the  Romance  were  needed.  So  towards 
the  end  of  the  eleventh  century  the  new  literature  was 
born.  Like  all  literatures,  it  began  with  poetry.  The 
poets  were  called  "trouveres,"  that  is  to  say,  those  in 
the  north  of  France  who  composed  in  French  were 
called  "trouveres";  those  in  the  south,  who  composed 
in  Provengal,  were  the  "troubadours."  Some  were 
knights,  others  were  poets  by  profession,  who  were 
called  "jongleurs."  The  "jongleurs"  went  to  the  fairs 
where  were  assembled  the  rich  merchants,  to  the  courts 
of  the  great  lords  on  days  of  feasting  or  holidays,  and 
they  sang  to  the  accompaniment  of  a  small  violin.  The 
poems  in  verse  of  eight  or  ten  syllables  were  called 
chansons  (songs),  because  they  were  chanted  or 
sung,  rowans  in  the  Provengal  because  they  were  in 
the  Romance  tongue.  The  poets  of  the  South,  more 
volatile  and  frivolous,  composed  especially  short  pieces, 
satires  or  love  songs,  serenades  (songs  for  the  even- 
ing). The  more  serious  poets  of  the  North  sang  of 
wars  and  battles,  of  the  exploits  of  Charlemagne  and 
his  companions,  of  Arthur,  King  of  Wales,  and  even  of 
Alexander.  These  were  the  chansons  dc  gestcs 
(actions).  During  three  centuries  these  songs  were 
composed  in  all  the  French  provinces  of  the  North. 
More  than  a  thousand  of  them  have  been  found  in  our 
own  times  among  the  manuscripts  forgotten  since  the 


132  MEDLEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

fourteenth  century,  and  no  one  knows  how  many  others 
have  been  lost.  The  most  ancient  of  these  poems  are 
conceded  to  be  the  most  beautiful.  They  are :  the 
Chanson  de  Roland,  Raoul  de  Cambrai,  Garin  de  Loh- 
erain,  and  the  works  of  Chretien  de  Troyes.  In  the 
Romance,  as  in  the  Latin,  the  mania  for  imitating  and 
developing  spoiled  the  works  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The 
poets  of  the  twelfth  century,  having  as  yet  no  models, 
were  unrestrained  in  following  nature.  To  say  what 
they  felt  they  must  depict  what  they  saw.  In  the  fol- 
lowing centuries  they  did  hardly  more  than  to  work 
over  and  lengthen  the  old  poems ;  then  came  the  poems 
of  twenty  to  thirty  thousand  verses,  which  the  erudite 
alone  condescended  to  read. 


ARCHITECTURE 

Origin    of    Romanesque    Architecture When    the 

Christians  of  the  fourth  century  began  to  celebrate 
their  worship  publicly  they  gathered  in  basilicas,  great 
halls  with  flat  roofs,  which  at  the  same  time  served 
for  the  civil  tribunals  and  as  a  hall  for  the  merchants. 
The  faithful  occupied  the  place  set  apart  for  the  mer- 
chants, the  nave,  divided  into  galleries  by  rows  of 
columns ;  the  site  of  the  tribunal  in  the  form  of  a  semi- 
circle, more  elevated  than  the  nave,  became  the  choir, 
where  were  the  bishops  and  priests.  The  Christian 
churches  preserved  for  a  long  time  the  form  and  the 
name  of  basilica ;  they  were  composed  of  a  great  nave 
flanked  by  two  smaller  naves  and  a  choir,  which  was 
called  the  apse  (vault),  because  of  the  vault  which  cov- 
ered it.    Litttle  by  little  arose  the  thought  of  building 


THE  THIRTEENTH   CENTURY  133 

one  or  two  towers  in  front  of  the  church  for  the  purpose 
of  containing  the  bells,  and  of  replacing  the  light  col- 
umns with  the  massive  pillars,  finally  to  put  in  place 
of  the  wooden  beams  and  the  flat  roof,  too  exposed  to 
fire,  a  construction  of  stone  in  the  form  of  a  vault.  A 
new  style  of  architecture  was  created,  which  was  called 
the  Romanesque,  because  it  had  its  origin  in  a  Romance 
country.  It  began  in  the  north  of  Italy  and  in  the 
south  of  France  in  the  eleventh  century,  but  it  spread 
over  all  of  western  Europe.  The  great  cathedrals  of 
Worms  and  Speyer  in  Germany  are  Romanesque 
churches.  Many  villages  in  the  valley  of  the  Rhone, 
in  Auvergne  and  in  Normandy  have  still  their  old 
Romanesque  churches,  where  they  have  not  been  rich 
enough  to  replace  them  with  new  edifices. 

Romanesque  Architecture — The  Romanesque 
churches  built  in  the  different  countries,  at  an  interval 
of  several  centuries,  by  architects  who  followed  no 
school,  are  far  from  being  entirely  alike  in  style  or  in 
decoration ;  they  are  distinguished  by  other  names, 
for  example,  Auvergne,  Norman,  and  German  Ro- 
manesque. But  all  have  certain  principles  in  common. 
The  most  ornamental  part,  the  fagade,  is  turned  toward 
the  west.  The  tower  (often  there  are  two  of  them) 
rises  above  the  facade  and  ends  in  a  pointed  spire ;  it 
dominates  the  whole  church.  Below  the  great  door 
the  portal,  through  which  the  faithful  enter,  is  sur- 
mounted by  a  recessed  arcade,  the  archivolt  orna- 
mented with  sculpture.1  Often  a  porch  must  be 
crossed  before  entering  the  portal.     This  porch  is  a 

1  The  half-circle  which  remains  between  the  archivolt  and 
the  top  of  the  door  is  the  tympanum,  Christ  surrounded  by  his 
apostles  is  frequently  represented  there. 


134  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

portico  with  columns,  the  front  of  the  edifice.  The 
portal  opens  to  the  great  middle  nave.  On  both  sides, 
heavy  pillars,  united  by  arcades,  support  the  interior 
walls,  which  are  joined  at  the  top  in  the  form  of  a 
vault.  (These  two  walls  are  often  ornamented  by  a 
second  story  of  arcades.)  On  each  side  of  the  great 
nave,  between  the  rows  of  pillars  and  the  exterior  walls 
of  the  church,  are  two  smaller  naves,  which  are  called 
the  lateral  aisles.  The  great  nave  and  these  lateral 
aisles  are  cut  across  by  a  wide,  high  gallery,  called  the 
transept,  which  ends  on  each  side  of  the  church  at  a 
lateral  portal  similar  to  the  one  in  the  facade,  and 
sometimes  surmounted  by  a  belfry.  Then,  in  a 
straight  line  with  the  nave  but  elevated  several  steps, 
is  the  choir  in  the  form  of  a  rotunda.  The  lateral 
aisles  extend  around  the  sides,  often  passing  entirely 
around  at  the  back.  All  this  part  is  called  the  apse 
and  is  covered  by  a  dome. 

Under  the  choir  is  a  vaulted  chamber  called  the 
crypt  (hidden),  which  contains  the  relics  of  the 
saints.  The  church  is  lighted  by  windows  set  in  the 
lateral  aisles  or  in  the  upper  part  of  the  nave.  In 
order  to  aid  the  interior  walls  in  supporting  the  crush- 
ing weight  of  the  vaults,  stout  piers  are  constructed  on 
the  outside  of  the  edifice,  between  the  windows,  and 
are  known  as  buttresses.  The  portals,  the  vaults,  the 
windows  of  the  aisles  and  the  towers,  all  have  the 
form  of  the  "plein-cintre,"1  that  is,  a  semi-circle,  as  in 
the  ancient  Roman  monuments. 

1  In  general  we  recognize  a  Romanesque  church  by  its  plein- 
cintres,  and  a  Gothic  by  its  ogives.  It  is  a  convenient  sign, 
but  there  is  a  risk  of  being  mistaken.  In  the  twelfth  century  there 
were  some  churches  where  the  ogive  was  employed,  but  the 
style  is  none  the  less  Romanesque. 


THE  THIRTEENTH   CENTURY  135 

The  plan  of  the  church  is  in  the  form  of  a  cross ;  the 
foot  of  the  cross,  occupying  three-fourths  of  the  total 
width,  is  formed  by  the  nave  and  the  lateral  aisles. 
The  worshippers  assemble  in  this  part.  The  transept 
represents  the  arms  of  the  cross,  the  rounded  head  of 
the  choir  the  sacred  part  of  the  edifice,  where  are  the 
clergy  and  where  the  ceremonies  of  the  service  are 
celebrated. 

Gothic  Architecture The  architects  who  built  the 

churches  began  about  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury to  replace  the  round  arcades  in  "plein-cintre"  by 
arcades  in  points,  which  we  call  ogives.  This  inven- 
tion permitted  them  to  build  higher  and  lighter  vaults, 
and  produced  a  revolution  in  architecture.  The  gen- 
eral plan  of  the  church  remains  the  same,  a  cross  of 
which  the  nave  is  the  foot,  the  choir  the  head,  but  all 
the  details  are  changed.  All  the  vaults  are  ogival,  no 
longer  semi-circular  in  form,  the  central  nave  rises  to 
a  greater  height,  the  side  aisles  are  also  higher  and 
become  veritable  naves.  The  massive  pillars  which 
supported  the  vaults  are  replaced  by  groups  of  light, 
slender  columns.  Above  the  piers  which  support  the 
exterior  walls  extend  great  flying  buttresses,  which, 
passing  like  aerial  bridges  over  the  side  aisles,  rest 
against  the  exterior  wall  of  the  great  central  nave. 
The  feeble  points  being  thus  rendered  more  solid,  it 
was  possible  to  make  the  openings  much  higher  and 
wider.  The  wall,  which  in  the  Romanesque  church 
occupied  more  than  half  of  the  sides,  gave  place  to 
windows.  The  windows  became  the  most  important 
part  of  the  church.  They  were  of  several  kinds :  the 
lancet  window,  employed  especially  for  the  towers,  is 


136  MEDIAEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

a  gigantic  opening  divided  into  two  parts  by  long 
slender  columns  and  resembles  a  cleft  crossing  the 
church  from  top  to  bottom ;  the  windows  of  the  aisles 
are  ornamented  within  and  without  by  indentations  in 
stone  filled  in  with  colored  glass.  Above  the  portals 
is  a  great  round  window,  the  rose-window,  where  the 
cut- work  is  in  the  form  of  a  rose.  The  columns  no 
longer  have  capitals,  they  end  at  the  tops  in  a  tuft  of 
foliage  wrought  in  stone. 

The  whole  church,  outside  and  inside,  is  covered 
with  sculptures  in  stone.  They  are  at  the  portals,  at 
the  windows,  above  the  piers,  at  the  extremity  of  the 
flying  buttresses,  at  each  story  of  the  towers  and  of 
the  facade.  The  sculptors,  becoming  more  skilful, 
varied  their  ornamentation.  The  foliage  in  stone 
of  the  native  plants,  the  nettle,  the  wild  briar,  the 
thistle,  the  rose,  is  of  wonderful  delicacy,  the  statues 
of  the  saints  which  decorate  the  portals  and  the 
niches,  the  scenes  represented  above  the  portal 
are  remarkable  for  their  life  and  truth ;  the  gar- 
goyles (water-troughs)  represent  animals  and  men 
in  fantastic  forms,  grotesque  or  hideous  demons  sus- 
pended in  space,  a  whole  world  of  bizarre  and  exuber- 
ant invention.  The  figures  on  the  tombs,  especially 
those  of  the  fifteenth  century,  are  often  masterpieces 
of  sculpture. 

This  system  of  construction  began  about  the  middle 
of  the  twelfth  century  in  the  environs  of  Paris,  in  the 
domain  of  the  King  of  France  (probably  in  the 
churches  of  St.  Denis  and  of  Xoyon.)  From  there 
it  passed  throughout  France  and  then  into  the  other 
countries  of  Europe.     From  the  thirteenth  century  to 


THE  THIRTEENTH   CENTURY  137 

the  end  of  the  fifteenth  it  was  the  only  style  in  use  in 
France,  Germany  and  England.  The  Italian  archi- 
tects, who  in  the  sixteenth  century  were  building  in 
imitation  of  the  ancients,  made  a  bitter  war  against 
this  later  order  of  the  Middle  Ages;  taking  it  for  an 
invention  of  the  barbarians  who  had  invaded  Italy,  the 
Goths,  they  called  it  the  Gothic.  This  term  of  scorn 
is  still  applied  to  it.  But  to-day  no  one  thinks  of  deny- 
ing that  the  Gothic  is  a  powerful  and  original  art.  The 
most  beautiful  churches  of  the  Middle  Ages,  Notre 
Dame  de  Paris,  the  cathedrals  of  Amiens,  Rheims, 
Laon,  Beauvais,  Cologne,  Strasburg,  Basle,  Freiburg, 
all  are  Gothic  churches.1 

The  Civil  Gothic — The  Gothic  style,  employed  at 
first  for  the  church,  was  later  applied  to  other  edifices. 
Especially  in  the  fourteenth  century  did  the  seigniors 
and  the  rich  bourgeoisie  build  for  themselves  chateaux 
and  mansions,  and  the  cities  built  "hotels  de  ville." 
Many  of  the  masterpieces  still  exist;  in  Flanders  the 
"hotels  de  ville"  of  Bruges,  Ypres,  Oudenarde ;  in 
France,  the  Palace  of  Justice  at  Rouen  and  the  house 
of  Jacques  Cceur  at  Bourges.  In  civil  monuments  the 
chief  point  is  the  fagade.  That  of  the  "hotels  de  ville" 
resembles  the  fagade  of  a  church,  the  belfry  takes  the 
place  of  the  bell-tower.  The  facade  of  a  private  man- 
sion usually  looks  upon  an  interior  court.  The  windows 
divided  by  a  cross  in  stone  are  ornamented  with  little 
turrets  of  foliage,  the  roofs  are  pierced  with  elegant 
dormers ;  pavilions  and  turrets  in  the  form  of  pepper 

1  No  Gothic  church  has  ever  been  finished.  They  lack. spires, 
towers,  or  there  has  been  no  time  to  complete  the  ornamentation 
demanded  by  the  original  plan. 


138  MEDLEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

boxes  are  placed  at  the  angles  and  stand  out  from  the 
fagade ;  all  the  corners  are  ornamented  with  statuettes. 
The  interior  of  the  rooms  is  ornamented  with  foliage 
or  with  sculptured  figures,  painted  in  brilliant  colors. 
Never,  perhaps,  have  edifices  been  erected  which  make 
so  gay  an  impression. 

The  Flamboyant  Gothic — The  more  we  approach  the 
end  of  the  Middle  Ages  the  more  are  the  churches 
ornamented,  and  the  more  varied  and  studied  are  the 
adornments;  the  most  common  is  the  cabbage  leaf, 
oddly  contorted.  The  church  resembles  a  piece  of 
stone  embroidery.  This  style  is  called  the  Flamboyant 
Gothic,  and  was  chiefly  employed  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury. The  masterpieces  of  that  epoch  are :  in  England, 
Westminster  Abbey;  in  France,  the  Tower  of  Saint 
Jacques  and  the  Church  of  Saint  Ouen  at  Rouen.  We 
are  accustomed  to  treat  with  scorn  the  flamboyant 
style,  as  if  it  were  a  corruption  of  the  pure  Gothic.  It 
is  true  that  the  most  beautiful  churches  are  of  the 
earlier  period  of  the  Gothic;  but  the  greater  num- 
ber of  beautiful  mansions  date  from  the  fifteenth 
century. 

Character  of  the  Gothic — There  is  no  agreement  as 
to  the  impression  produced  by  the  Gothic  churches. 
The  greater  number  of  visitors  are  touched  by  the 
majesty  of  the  high  vaults  and  by  those  forests  of 
slender  columns  which  lose  themselves  in  the  heavens, 
by  the  bizarre  aspect  of  those  sharp  turrets,  of  the 
twisted  foliage,  of  the  fantastic  monsters,  or  by  the 
mysterious  light  filtering  down  through  the  colored 
panes.  That  cage  of  stone  and  glass,  which  appears 
to  stand  only  as  by  a  miracle,  gives  them  an  impression 


THE  THIRTEENTH   CENTURY  139 

of  a  fragile  work,1  contrary  to  nature,  a  mad  effort 
to  rise  to  heaven.  From  this  effect  there  has  grown 
a  widely  spread  opinion  that  Gothic  architecture  is 
the  sublime  but  sickly  production  of  a  gloomy2 
epoch,  stirred  by  longings  for  the  infinite.  Men  of 
the  profession  say,  on  the  contrary,  that  this  style 
of  architecture  is  distinguished  by  a  logical,  clever, 
well-calculated  arrangement  of  the  parts.  The  general 
impression  is  that  of  a  powerful  and  harmonious  life, 
an  impression  of  gaiety. 

1  It  is  often  said  that  the  Gothic  churches  are  fragile,  that 
they  must  be  continually  rebuilt,  piece  by  piece,  but  those  that 
have  been  well  constructed,  and  are  of  good  materials,  such  as 
those  of  Rheims  and  Freiburg  have  lasted  over  500  years. 

2  See  Michelet's  Histoire  de  France, — Taine  (Philosophy  of 
Art)  says  the  same  thing.  "The  interior  of  the  edifice  re- 
mains swallowed  up  in  lugubrious  and  cold  shadow  .  .  .  or- 
nament of  a  nervous  and  super-excited  woman,  whose  delicate 
but  unhealthy  poetic  nature  indicates  by  its  excess  of  strange 
sentiments  the  troubled  inspiration,  the  violent  and  important 
aspirations  proper  to  the  age  of  monks  and  knights.'1 


CHAPTER   X 

DEVELOPMENT    OF    POLITICAL    LIBERTY    AND 
THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  INFERIOR  CLASSES 

The  Charters  of  Liberty — The  greater  number  of 
the  French  towns  were  old  villages1  belonging  to  a 
lord;  even  their  name  indicates  that,  ville  (villa)  sig- 
nifies domain.  The  towns  which  dated  from  the 
Roman  times  had  fallen  under  the  power  of  either 
their  bishop  (Amiens,  Laon,  Beauvais),  their  king 
(Orleans,  Paris),  or  of  some  prince  (Angers  belonged 
to  the  Count  d'Anjou,  Bordeaux  to  the  Duke  d'Aqui- 
taine).  The  lord,  or  rather  his  intendant  (the  pro- 
vost), commanded  the  inhabitants  like  a  master;  he 
made  them  pay  money,  judged  them,  condemned 
them,  often  took  their  merchandise  or  arrested  them 
without  any  motive,  for  he  was  the  sole  judge.  In 
the  eleventh  century  the  towns,  still  very  wretched, 
were  hardly  to  be  distinguished  from  the  villages, 
except  that  they  were  surrounded  by  a  wall. 

In  the  twelfth  century,  the  inhabitants  growing 
richer,  began  to  wish  for  a  more  regular  government. 
Gradually,  by  revolts,  the  greater  number  paying  large 
sums  for  the  privilege,  they  succeeded  in  obtaining 
from   the   suzerain  certain  promises  which   they  had 

1  Of  500  French  towns  not  more  than  eighty  were  ancient 
Roman  towns. 

140 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   POLITICAL   LIBERTY      141 

inscribed  in  a  charter.1  "I  make  known  to  all,"  said 
the  seignior,  "that  I  accord  to  the  men  of  my  town 
the  following  customs.  Henceforth  they  will  pay  me 
such  a  sum,  at  such  an  epoch  in  each  year,  and  I  pledge 
myself  to  make  no  further  levy  upon  them."  The 
charter  ordinarily  contained  a  tariff  of  fines.  "Who- 
ever strikes  another  with  his  fist  will  owe  me  a  fine  of 
3  sols,  with  the  foot  5  sols,  if  the  blood  flows  7  sols; 
whoever  draws  a  knife  or  a  sword  without  striking 
will  owe  me  60  sols,  if  he  strikes,  10  pounds;  whoever 
spits  on  another  or  calls  him  a  leper  will  owe  me  7 
sols,"  etc.  Sometimes  it  was  stipulated  that  blood 
flowing  from  the  nose  should  not  be  considered  as 
blood  shed,  that  children  under  twelve  years,  if  they 
fought  each  other,  should  not  be  amenable  to  fine. 
The  charter  took  great  care  to  rigorously  fix  the  fine, 
that  is,  what  the  lord  had  a  right  to  levy  for  each 
offense.  An  abbot  of  the  twelfth  century,  Guibert  de 
Nogent,  defines  this  contract  between  the  lord  and 
the  town  as  follows :  "Commune  is  a  new  and  detest- 
able word,  it  means  that  the  servitors  pay  once  a  year 
only  to  their  master  the  habitual  debt  of  their  servi- 
tude, and  that  should  they  commit  any  misdemeanor 
they  have  only  to  pay  a  sum  fixed  in  advance ;  as  for 
the  other  forced  labors  and  impositions  of  all  kinds 
which  are  usually  exacted  from  the  serfs,  they  will 
be  entirely  exempt  from  these."  This  regulation  of 
the  duties  of  the  lord  was  called  custom,  liberty,  or 
franchise.     All  the  towns  sought  to  obtain  it.     The 

1  It  is  impossible  to  find  an  example  which  can  give  an  exact 
idea  of  these  charters,  for  they  were  drawn  up  in  a  thousand 
different  ways. 


142  MEDLEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

movement  began  at  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century 
in  the  towns  of  the  South  and  at  the  other  end  of 
France,  in  those  towns  of  Picardy  and  Flanders,  where 
lived  the  merchants  who  had  grown  rich  in  commerce. 
It  extended  over  all  Europe,  so  that  at  the  end  of  the 
fourteenth  century  there  was  scarcely  any  borough 
that  did  not  have  its  franchise. 

The  Communes. — There  were  in  the  towns  several 
kinds  of  inhabitants :  artisans  and  their  workmen  or- 
ganized into  trades,1  merchants,  and  even  families  rich 
enough  to  do  without  work  in  order  to  live.  All  were 
called  "bourgeois,"  that  is,  inhabitants  of  a  fortified 
city  (bourg).  They  remained  subjects  of  their  liege, 
but  under  the  conditions  inscribed  in  their  charter. 
These  conditions  differed  greatly.  In  the  greater 
number  of  towns  the  bourgeoisie  had  no  other  right 
than  to  designate  some  of  their  number,  who  were 
called  "prud'hommes"  (that  is,  honorable  men),  to 
counsel  the  provost  of  the  lord  and  to  aid  him  in 
levying  the  tax. 

But  in  the  most  favored  (Beauvais,  Lille,  Dijon, 
Xarbonne,  Toulouse,  for  example),  the  bourgeoisie 
had  received  permission  to  govern  themselves;  they 
were  the  true  communes.2 

"Each,"  said  the  charter  of  Beauvais,  "should  give 

1  For  the  organization  of  the  trades  see  Chapter  xiv,  "The 
Cities  of  the  Middle  Ages."  The  trades  were  organized  in  the 
North  of  France  just  as  in  Germany,  in  the  South,  one  might 
say,  they  did  not  exist. 

2  There  is  no  relation  between  the  size  of  a  city  and  the  extent 
of  its  privileges,  for  the  privileges  depended  only  on  the  contract 
made  with  the  lord.  Laon,  Beaune,  Saint  Jean-de-Losne,  many 
obscure  little  burgs  had  more  rights  than  Rouen  or  Bordeaux; 
Orleans  and  Paris  were  not  even  communes,  and  could  not 
govern  themselves. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   POLITICAL   LIBERTY      143 

succor  to  the  others  and  not  permit  anything  to  be 
taken  from  them."  At  Lille,  when  a  burgher  was 
attacked  by  a  man  from  abroad,  it  was  sufficient  for 
him  to  cry  "Bourgeoisie!"  All  the  citizens  present 
were  obliged  to  go  to  his  aid,  under  penalty  of  a  fine. 
The  commune  had  the  same  rights  as  a  knight;  it 
could  make  war  on  its  enemies  and  destroy  their 
homes.  As  a  sign  of  its  right  it  had  a  seal,  in  order  to 
seal  its  acts,  a  treasury  in  which  to  deposit  its  money, 
a  belfry  with  a  bell  to  call  the  citizens  to  arms  (this 
belfry  is  the  church  tower  of  the  bourgeoisie),  a  hotel 
de  ville,  that  is,  a  mansion  where  assembled  the  cor- 
poration of  the  town,  the  council  of  the  men  who  gov- 
erned the  town. 

The  Town  Corporation. — The  corporation  of  the  town 
was  a  council  composed  of  burgher  members  of 
the  commune;  sometimes  there  were  four,  sometimes 
twelve,  sometimes  one  hundred  members;  sometimes 
they  had  equal  powers,  sometimes  they  were  presided 
over  by  a  mayor ;  in  the  South  they  were  called  con- 
suls, in  the  North  aldermen,  wardens,  governors. 
They  were  always  the  notables  of  the  town.  No  one 
in  the  Middle  Ages,  neither  bourgeois  nor  noble, 
thought  of  demanding  equality.  These  notables  had 
absolute  power  over  the  inhabitants ;  they  judged  the 
suits  and  condemned  the  criminals,  they  levied  taxes 
and  kept  the  keys  of  the  city  gates ;  in  case  of  danger 
they  stretched  chains  across  the  streets  and  they  rang 
the  bell  in  the  belfry.  At  the  sound  of  this  bell  the 
citizens  must  hasten  to  arms  and  put  themselves  under 
the  command  of  their  chief ;  they  must  also  go  to  the 
great  assembly,  in  the  public  square,  in  the  cemetery, 


144  MEDIAEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

or  in  the  church,  to  deliberate  upon  the  affairs  of  the 
commune,  and  especially  to  listen  to  the  decisions  of 
the  town  corporation. 

Municipal  Justice — In  seeking  for  justice  the  bour- 
geois could  not,  like  the  knight,  have  recourse  to  arms. 
He  must  demand  justice  before  the  town  corporation, 
or  before  the  provost  of  the  suzerain;  that  was  the 
tribunal  of  the  bourgeoisie.  In  this  court  the  old  cus- 
tom was  scrupulously  followed.  The  offended  party 
or  the  relative  of  the  victim  was  the  accuser,  he  desig- 
nated the  culprit,  and  on  his  knees,  with  his  hands  on 
the  relics  of  the  saints,  he  swore  that  the  crime  had 
been  committed  by  that  man.  The  accused  swore, 
word  for  word,  to  the  contrary.  Often  the  court  made 
them  fight  a  duel  with  sticks,  and  the  conquered  man 
was  condemned.  If  the  accuser  brought  witnesses, 
each  witness  was  to  swear  in  his  turn,  employing 
always  the  same  words,  that  the  accused  was  culpable. 
When  two  witnesses  had  so  sworn  the  accused  was  to 
be  condemned,  but  it  was  not  easy  to  find  two  wit- 
nesses, as  they  had  to  swear  that  they  had  been 
present  at  the  commission  of  the  crime. 

Everything  took  place  in  public,  often  in  the  open 
air,  and  nothing  was  written.  After  the  duel  or  the 
oaths,  the  court  pronounced  judgment  in  solemn  form  : 
"According  to  the  truth,  which  the  aldermen  have 
heard,  we  say  to  you  that  this  man  is  found  guilty; 
nevertheless  we  say  to  you  that  you  should  do  justly 
as  you  are  required  to  do."  The  bourgeois  of  the 
Middle  Ages  had  so  much  respect  for  forms  that  the 
least  error  sufficed  to  cause  the  loss  of  a  suit.  "Who- 
ever," says  the  custom  of  Lille,  "takes  his  hand  from 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   POLITICAL   LIBERTY      145 

the  saints  (the  relics)  before  he  has  sworn  and  said 
the  words  such  as  usage  and  law  direct,  must  lose  his 
case."  Every  word  binds  the  one  who  pronounces  it, 
for  the  judges  only  take  account  of  words,  not  of 
intentions.  The  punishments  were  also  irrevocably 
regulated,  the  judges  could  change  nothing.  The 
homicide  was  to  have  his  head  cut  off,  the  murderer, 
he  who  killed  with  premeditation,  was  to  be  dragged 
on  a  hurdle  to  the  gibbet  and  hung,  the  incendiary  was 
to  be  burned,  the  woman  condemned  to  death  was  to 
be  buried  alive.  The  rule  was  applied  without  excep- 
tion. If  the  condemned  escaped,  he  was  executed  in 
effigy;  a  manikin,  supposed  to  represent  him,  was 
burned  or  hung.  When  a  man  had  committed  suicide 
his  body  was  dragged  on  the  hurdle  and  hung,  for 
"he  should  have  the  same  justice  done  to  him  as  if 
he  were  the  murderer  of  another."  If  a  bull  killed  a 
man,  or  if  a  boar  devoured  a  child,  the  executioners 
must  hang  the  bull  or  the  boar.  These  executions  of 
animals  continued  until  the  end  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

Amelioration  of  Serfdom — In  the  country  also  the 
condition  of  the  inhabitants  was  somewhat  amelior- 
ated during  the  Middle  Ages.  In  the  eleventh  century 
there  were  still  more  serfs  than  freemen  to  be  found 
among  the  villeins;  the  greater  part  of  the  peasants 
were  then,  as  was  said,  taxable  at  will,  taxable  at 
mercy;  that  is,  their  master  could  make  them  pay  as 
much  money  as  it  pleased  him  to  demand ;  they  were 
subject  to  the  law  of  "mortmain,"  at  their  death  the 
master  took  back  the  land  they  had  cultivated.  Grad- 
ually, from  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century,  the 
serfs  of  the  villages,  like  the  inhabitants  of  the  towns, 


146  MEDIAEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

induced  their  masters  to  fix  their  rents,  and  to  release 
them  from  the  "mortmain."  This  was  called  to  en- 
franchise or  simply  "abonner"  (to  fix  the  limit).  This 
favor  was  dearly  bought,  the  master  granted  it  only 
in  exchange  for  large  sums,  but  it  was  irrevocable. 
The  serf  (abonne)  henceforth  paid  a  fixed  tax  only, 
he  and  his  descendants  became  in  perpetuity  free 
villeins.  Therefore,  according  as  new  villages  ob- 
tained charters,  the  number  of  serfs  diminished.  In 
the  fourteenth  century  there  were  no  longer  any  of 
them  to  be  found  in  certain  provinces;  in  others  (Bur- 
gundy, Comte,  Auvergne)  there  were  a  few  until  the 
eighteenth  century,  but  only  a  small  number  remained. 
Even  those  who  had  not  been  enfranchised  by  their 
master  had  become  more  free,  the  usage  was  estab- 
lished that  a  serf  could  leave  his  village  on  condition 
of  disavowing  his  master,  by  declaration  made  to  him, 
that  he  no  longer  recognized  him  as  master;  the  lord 
kept  the  land,  but  he  was  obliged  to  let  the  man 
depart. 


CHAPTER   XI 

THE    INSTITUTIONS    OF    ENGLAND    IN    THE 
MIDDLE   AGES 

The  Saxons.1 — From  the  sixth  century  the  south  of 
Great  Britain  had  been  occupied  by  German  (Saxon 
and  Angle)  warriors,  who  had  come  from  the  great 
foggy  and  sterile  plains  of  northern  Germany.  Arriv- 
ing in  armed  bands  with  their  families,  they  had  exter- 
minated the  ancient  peoples  or  had  pushed  them  back 
to  the  farther  end  of  the  country,  into  the  sterile 
mountains  of  Cornwall  and  Wales.  They  were  pure 
Germans,  with  red  hair,  blue  eyes,  large  bony  bodies, 
fair  skins;  they  were  great  eaters  and  great  fighters, 
passing  their  days  in  feasting  (at  court  they  were 
given  four  meals  a  day)  ;  they  devoured  whole  oxen, 
drinking  a  full  horn  of  hydromel,  a  drink  of  fermented 
honey  which  fells  the  stoutest  of  men,  and  when  they 
were  surfeited  they  liked  to  sing  of  the  exploits  of 
their  warriors.  But  above  everything  they  loved  to 
fight,  even  when  they  had  become  Christians ;  they 
wanted  to  die  with  their  arms  in  their  hands.  "What 
a  shame  for  me,"  said  the  sick  Duke  of  Northumber- 
land, "not  to  have  been  able  to  die  in  so  many  wars, 
and  to  end  as  cows  do !    Put  on  my  cuirass,  my  sword, 

1  The  word  Saxony  formerly  designated  the  country  between 
the  Weser  and  the  Elbe,  what  is  now  called  Hanover. 

147 


148  MEDLEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

my  helmet,  my  shield,  and  give  me  my  golden  bat- 
tle-ax, so  that  a  great  warrior  may  die  as  becomes  a 
great  warrior."  The  Saxons,  even  when  of  the  same 
family,  massacred  each  other.  In  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury Tostgi,  brother  of  Harold,  dissatisfied  on  seeing 
his  brother  in  favor  with  the  king,  went  off  into  a 
royal  domain,  where  Harold  had  ordered  a  banquet 
prepared,  killed  the  servants  of  Harold,  cut  off  their 
heads  and  limbs,  which  he  put  into  great  beer  and 
hydromel  pots,  and  then  sent  word  to  the  king:  "If 
you  will  go  into  your  domain  you  will  find  there  a 
large  provision  of  salted  meat."  With  all  that  they 
were  brave  and  devoted  men,  "faithful  to  their  rela- 
tives and  to  their  suzerain  in  the  game  of  swords," 
steadfast  as  friends  or  foes.  In  the  only  Saxon  poem 
which  remains  to  us,  "Beowulf,"  the  hero  dies  for  his 
people,  in  delivering  them  from  a  dragon  which  was 
guarding  a  treasure.  Such  were  the  founders  of  the 
English  nation:  warriors,  brutal  and  sanguinary,  but 
energetic  and  faithful. 

The  Normans — The  Scandinavians  (Danes,  Nor- 
wegians, Swedes)  were  still  in  the  ninth  century  what 
the  Germans  were  in  the  fourth,  warriors,  barbarians 
and  pagans.  Their  custom  required  that  at  the  death 
of  a  man  one  son  only  should  inherit  the  mansion  and 
the  property.  The  others  were  united  in  bands,  which 
went  abroad  to  better  their  fortunes.  The  barbarian 
warrior,  when  he  had  not  received  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence from  his  parents,  pledged  his  honor  to  acquire 
it  by  arms ;  to  labor  seemed  to  him  dishonorable,  when 
he  was  not  a  proprietor  he  became  a  brigand.  The 
Scandinavians  lived  very  near  to  the  seacoast,  and  so 


ENGLAND   IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES  149 

they  became  pirates.  A  band  departed  in  a  fleet  ship 
with  two  sails,  commanded  by  a  chosen  chief,  one  of 
those  "sea  kings"  who  boasted  that  "they  had  never 
slept  under  a  roof,  nor  emptied  a  horn  of  beer  near  an 
occupied  hearth."  These  bands  went  about  in  every 
direction.  Some  went  to  the  North  for  the  purpose  of 
conquering  Iceland  and  Greenland.  Others,  intrenched 
in  fortresses,  pillaged  the  ships  and  carried  off  the 
flocks  and  herds.  Such  were  the  famous  "Vikings"  of 
Jonsborg,  who  for  two  centuries  scoured  the  Baltic  Sea. 
The  greater  part  preferred  to  attack  the  more  civilized 
countries,  France,  Germany,  Italy,  and  Spain;  they 
disembarked  suddenly  on  the  coasts  or  went  up  the 
rivers,  pillaging  the  castles,  attacking  the  cities  when 
their  force  was  strong  enough.  They  were  infuriated 
against  the  monks,  whom  in  their  quality  of  pagans 
they  detested.  "We  have  sung  the  mass  of  the  lances 
to  them,"  said  they.  They  were  called  Danes  in  Eng- 
land, but  elsewhere  they  were  known  as  men  of  the 
North  (Normans).  Finally  their  principal  band  de- 
cided to  settle  in  France.  The  province,  which  became 
Normandy,  had  never  until  that  time  been  known  or 
spoken  of;  a  century  and  a  half  later  it  was  celebrated 
throughout  all  Europe.  The  Normans  had  quickly 
taken  up  with  the  Christian  religion  and  with  the 
French  language.  Danish  was  no  longer  spoken  save 
at  Bayeux.  They  had  formed  themselves  into  a  society, 
and  this  society  of  pirates  was  found  to  be  better  dis- 
ciplined and  better  commanded  than  any  of  the  others 
of  that  epoch.  The  duke  was  obeyed  by  all  and  dis- 
pensed justice  to  all.  Normandy  was  the  only  country 
in  France  where  private  war  was  forbidden,  and  where 


150  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

there  was  a  regularly  established  justice  common  to 
all.  The  story  is  told  of  a  gold  ring  which  had  hung 
on  a  tree  for  a  whole  year  without  any  one  daring  to 
steal  it.  The  Normans  have  preserved  through  all 
the  centuries  the  tall  figure,  blond  hair  and  fair  com- 
plexion, the  vigor  and  the  audacity  in  enterprise  which 
they  inherited  from  the  adventurers,  their  ancestors. 

The  Norman  Conquest — William,  Duke  of  Nor- 
mandy, laid  claim  to  the  crown  of  England.  The  pope 
supported  him  and  sent  him  a  consecrated  standard. 
In  order  to  take  possession  of  his  kingdom  he  gathered 
together  a  strong  army  of  about  sixty  thousand  adven- 
turers, all  Frenchmen,  and  promised  them  a  share  in 
the  lands  of  England.  After  the  victory  he  let  his 
soldiers  seek  their  own  reward.  They  settled  in  the 
houses  and  on  the  domains  of  the  Saxons,  who  had 
fought  against  them,  taking  by  force  their  widows  or 
their  heirs,  and  thus  becoming  proprietors  and  gentle- 
men. This  is  what  is  called  the  conquest  of  England. 
The  greater  number  of  the  nobles  and  the  prelates 
were  henceforth  French.  They  did  not  adopt  the 
manners  and  customs  of  the  Saxons,  whom  they  des- 
pised. They  continued  to  speak  French  and  to  lead 
the  lives  of  French  knights.  They  sent  their  children 
to  Normandy  in  order  to  learn  the  French  language ; 
in  the  schools  one  could  speak  nothing  but  French  or 
Latin.  For  three  centuries  French  remained  the  lan- 
guage of  king,  courtiers,  nobles  and  judges.  Even  at 
the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century  French  poems 
were  composed,  and  an  author  of  French  ballads  ex- 
cused his  mistakes,  saying:  "Pardon  me,  I  am  an 
Englishman." 


ENGLAND    IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES  151 

The  Royalty. — The  new  kings  governed  their  king- 
dom of  England  as  they  had  their  dukedom  of  Nor- 
mandy, with  method  and  discipline.  They  began  by 
getting  acquainted  with  their  kingdom :  barons  chosen 
by  the  king  went  through  all  the  country,  "making 
inquest  of  the  lands" ;  they  wrote  down  all  the  do- 
mains of  England,  indicating  for  each  "what  was  the 
name  of  the  manor,  the  name  of  the  possessor,  how 
much  land  there  was,  how  many  serfs,  villeins,  and 
freemen,  how  much  forest  land,  how  much  meadow 
and  pasture-land,  how  many  mills,  and  the  value  of 
the  whole."  Thus  was  drawn  up  the  "Domesday 
Book" ;  thanks  to  this  general  census  the  King  of 
England  could  know  what  forces  he  had  to  dispose  of, 
and  what  people  owed  him  obedience ;  indispensable 
condition  as  it  seems  to  us  for  governing,  but  which 
the  Normans  and  English  alone  realized  in  the  Middle 
Ages.  Afterward  the  king  declared  that  every  free- 
man (not  only  the  great  lords,  his  vassals,  but  all  the 
knights)  should  swear  to  defend  his  lands  and  his 
person  against  his  enemies.  The  king  could  thus 
gather  into  his  army  all  the  knights  of  England.  In 
each  of  the  shires  (counties)  into  which  the  kingdom 
was  divided,  the  king  had  an  employee,  the  sheriff,  and 
from  the  twelfth  century  he  sent  out  itinerant  judges. 
The  king  had  near  him  a  council  to  decide  upon  im- 
portant matters — judges  to  adjudicate  the  "pleas  of 
the  crown,"  that  is,  all  cases  where  the  king  might  be 
interested  (this  tribunal  is  called  the  king's  bench)  ; 
judges  to  examine  the  accounts  and  the  revenues  (they 
were  the  judges  of  the  exchequer,  so  called  because 
they  gathered  around  a  table  covered  with  a  checkered 


152  MEDLBVAL  CIVILIZATION 

cloth).  Councillors,  judges,  sheriffs  were  named  and 
deposed  by  the  king.  In  the  name  of  their  master  they 
had  the  right  to  command  the  highest  lords,  to  cite 
them  before  the  court,  and  to  condemn  them  to  death. 
They  prevented  the  lords  from  making  war  among 
themselves,  as  was  done  in  France.  In  England,  who- 
ever, under  pretext  of  doing  justice  to  himself,  attacked 
his  enemy  was  condemned  for  having  violated  the 
peace  of  the  king.  There  was  in  all  Europe  no  king- 
dom so  well  disciplined  and  no  king  so  perfectly 
obeyed. 

The  English  Nobility. — England  was  divided  into 
great  domains,  cultivated  by  villeins  and  by  farmers; 
each  domain,  named  manor,  that  is,  residence,  formed 
a  village.  The  seigniors  in  French  were  called  barons, 
in  English  they  were  called  lords.  They  had  several 
manors  united  in  a  barony.  The  greatest  lords  in 
England  were  possessed  of  five  or  six  hundred  manors, 
and  bore  the  title  of  count  (in  English  earl).  But 
these  manors  were  scattered  throughout  England ;  the 
count  had  not,  as  in  France,  one  province  of  which  he 
was  the  sole  master,  where  he  could  govern  and  make 
war.  The  counts  of  England  were  very  rich,  but  they 
were  not  sovereigns,  as  were  those  of  France. 

The  knights  were,  at  first,  quite  numerous.  There 
were  60,000  of  them,  men-at-arms  and  proprietors; 
in  the  eleventh  century  each  usually  owned  a  manor. 
As  the  king  prevented  them  from  fighting  among 
themselves  they  quickly  lost  the  taste  for  war.  While 
the  knights  of  France  made  war  for  pleasure,  those 
of  England  regarded  service  in  the  army  as  a  painful 
duty.     It  was  necessary  for  the  king  to  force  the  pro- 


ENGLAND   IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES  153 

prietors  to  equip  themselves  as  knights,  and  when 
he  offered  them  the  privilege  of  buying  themselves 
off,  by  paying  a  tax,  the  greater  number  accepted  joy- 
fully. There  came  a  time  (1278)  when  the  king 
ordered  his  sheriffs  to  oblige  all  men  whose  revenue 
exceeded  twenty  pounds  sterling  "to  receive  the  acco- 
lade," that  is,  to  become  knights.  This  title,  so  much 
sought  for  in  France,  no  longer  tempted  any  one  in 
England.  The  English  gentlemen  were  content  to 
remain  squires.  They  lived  in  the  country,  improving 
their  lands;  nothing  distinguished  them  from  simple 
freemen.  While  in  France  it  was  necessary  to  be  the 
son  of  a  noble  in  order  to  be  a  gentleman,  in  England 
whoever  had  sufficient  money  to  live  at  his  ease  was 
considered  a  gentleman.  The  son  of  an  enriched 
farmer  became  a  gentleman.  In  the  fifteenth  century 
there  was  no  difference,  except  fortune,  between  the 
gentry  (the  country  gentlemen)  and  the  yeomen 
(small  proprietors).  That  is  the  reason  why  the 
English  nobility  did  not  become  a  closed  class,  opposed 
to  the  other  classes,  as  was  the  case  in  France. 

The  Magna  Charta — In  England  the  king  was  strong 
and  the  nobles  were  feeble.  The  king  knew  that  none 
of  his  subjects  could  resist  him,  and  he  abused  this 
knowledge,  forcing  them  to  furnish  him  with  money, 
taking  their  lands,  their  produce,  and  their  cattle ;  lie 
imprisoned  them  without  cause  and  put  them  to  death 
without  trial.  People  were  executed  for  killing  deer 
in  a  forest  belonging  to  the  king.  This  form  of  gov- 
ernment lasted  for  a  century  and  a  half.  The  barons, 
too  feeble  to  resist  individually,  finally  formed  an  asso- 
ciation to  resist  in  common.     They  profited  by  the 


154  MEDLEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

moment  when  John  Lackland,  beaten  by  the  King  of 
France,  needed  their  support.  While  threatening  to 
abandon  him  they  obliged  him,  in  12 15,  to  swear  a 
solemn  oath  that  in  the  future  he  would  respect  all  the 
liberties,  that  is,  all  the  rights  of  the  freemen  of  his 
kingdom.  His  promises  were  drawn  up  in  an  act  of 
sixty-three  articles,  which  the  king  sealed  with  his 
own  seal.  This  is  the  famous  Magna  Charta.  Here 
are  the  two  important  articles :  "No  levy  of  money 
shall  be  established  throughout  the  kingdom  unless  by 
order  of  the  common  council  of  our  kingdom."  "No 
freeman  shall  be  arrested,  imprisoned,  banished,  exiled 
or  attaint  in  any  way ;  we  will  not  seize,  nor  cause  to 
be  seized,  any  one  except  through  the  common  judg- 
ment by  his  equals,  and  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
country."  Thus  the  king  pledged  himself:  (1)  To 
respect  the  property  of  his  subjects  and  no  longer  to 
take  their  money  except  by  their  consent.  (2)  To 
respect  their  persons  in  not  chastising  them  save  after 
a  regular  trial  and  sentence. 

These  were  still  nothing  but  promises;  no  power 
could  prevent  the  king  from  violating  them,  and  he 
does  often  violate  them.  But  each  king  on  his  acces- 
sion renews  these  promises  (there  have  been  thirty- 
three  ratifications  of  the  Magna  Charta),  and  this  vow 
at  least  warns  him  of  his  duties.  They  are  inscribed 
in  a  solemn  act  that  is  known  to  all  Englishman;  it 
recalls  to  them  that  they  have  the  right  to  be  neither 
taxed  nor  arrested  according  to  the  good  pleasure  of 
the  king.  Out  of  these  ideas  grew  the  two  institutions 
which  will  ever  guarantee  their  liberty,  i.e.,  the  parlia- 
ment and  the  jury.    The  Magna  Charta  has  established 


ENGLAND   IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES  155 

that  the  king  has  duties  and  that  the  nation  has  rights. 
It  is  the  foundation  of  the  liberties  of  England. 

Origin  of  the  Jury — In  England  the  king  alone  had 
the  right  to  judge  crimes  and  to  condemn  to  death.1 
He  named  the  judges  and  sent  them  to  make  tours 
through  the  kingdom.  Each  year,  in  each  section  of 
the  country,  at  a  fixed  epoch,  a  judge  came  from  the 
court  and  in  the  name  of  the  king  held  a  general  assem- 
bly, where  were  present  freemen,  nobles,  and  even  the 
lords  of  the  country;  this  was  the  assizes  (the  name  is 
still  preserved  in  the  term,  "court  of  assize).  The 
judge  informed  himself  concerning  suits  and  crimes 
committed  in  the  country,  he  addressed  twelve  "hon- 
orable men,"  and  made  them  swear  loyally  to  what 
they  knew,  so  he  began  an  inquest  in  order  to  discover 
the  truth.  He  asked  them  which  of  the  two  litigants 
was  right,  or,  in  case  of  crime,  whether  the  accused 
was  guilty  or  not ;  according  to  their  answers  he  pro- 
nounced judgment  in  favor  of  one  or  the  other  of  the 
two  adversaries,  he  acquitted  or  condemned  the  ac- 
cused. This  manner  of  judging  was  called  inquest  of 
the  country;2  the  twelve  knights  consulted  were  called 
jurymen.  Thus  the  jury  came  into  existence  (at  first 
it  served  only  in  suits  which  concerned  property ;  from 
the  thirteenth  century  it  also  served  in  criminal  trials). 
The  judges  had  invented  it  to  facilitate  their  labors.  It 
has  become  the  best  guarantee  against  the  tyranny  of 

1  Each  lord  had  in  his  domain  his  own  feudatory  court,  but  it 
was  a  petty  tribunal,  and  decided  only  matters  of  interest  in  the 
domain. 

*  The  jury  in  its  principle  is  like  the  Inquisition,  and  bore  the 
same  name,  inquest,  but  as  they  came  about  in  a  wholly  different 
manner,  so  the  one  became  a  tribunal  of  liberty  and  the  other 
a  tribunal  of  oppression. 


156  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

the  judges,  because  it  leaves  the  decision  to  the  fellow- 
citizens  of  the  accused.  The  jury  is  one  of  the  most 
admired  of  all  the  English  institutions,  and  almost  all 
the  nations  of  Europe  have  borrowed  it  from  England. 

The  English  Parliament The  king  drew  from  his 

great  domains,  and  from  the  fines  for  his  benefit, 
enough  money  to  support  his  household  and  to  pay  his 
domestics.  But  when  he  made  war  his  revenues  were 
not  sufficient;  then  he  levied  taxes  on  his  subjects. 
The  custom  demanding  that  in  this  case  he  should  ask 
their  consent,  he  summoned  all  the  important  men  of 
the  kingdom ;  the  bishops  and  the  barons,  convoked  by 
a  personal  letter,  assembled  in  his  presence  and  agreed 
on  the  amount  of  tax  that  the  king  ought  to  levy.  For 
a  long  time  these  great  personages  alone  were  con- 
sulted (it  was  they  who  had  extorted  the  "Magna 
Charta"  from  King  John.  At  the  end  of  the  thir- 
teenth century  each  burgh  and  town  was  ordered  to 
send  two  burgesses,  each  county  assembly  to  send  two 
chosen  knights.  These  deputies  came  at  first  only 
to  listen  to  what  the  great  lords  would  decide,  and 
to  report  it  in  their  part  of  the  country ;  then  gradually 
they  were  admitted  to  the  discussions.  This  great 
assembly  was  called  the  parliament.  The  king  called 
it  together  only  to  demand  money  from  it ;  but  usually 
before  granting  anything  the  parliament  obliged  the 
king  to  listen  to  its  complaints,  and  often  to  reform  his 
administration,  or  to  remove  his  officials.  This  was  a 
means  of  governing  indirectly.  Parliament  also  tried 
many  times  to  place  the  king  under  surveillance,  but 
the  king  always  got  rid  of  it,  and  the  custom  could  not 
be  established.     However,  they  finally  became  accus- 


ENGLAND   IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES  157 

tomed  to  the  idea  that  the  king  must  convene  parlia- 
ment each  year. 

The  lords  and  the  bishops,  who  for  a  long  time  had 
been  the  only  ones  who  were  summoned  by  the  king, 
sat  by  themselves  and  formed  the  House  of  Lords. 
The  knights  of  the  counties  and  the  burgesses  sent 
by  the  towns  formed  a  new  house,  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. This  organization  decided  the  fate  of  England. 
Trie  petty  nobility,  in  place  of  uniting  with  the  higher 
nobles  against  the  "bourgeoisie"  (as  came  to  pass  in 
France),  was  found  to  have  united  with  the  latter. 
During  two  centuries  the  lords  continued  to  lead  the 
parliament.  Finally,  during  the  Wars  of  the  Roses, 
they  destroyed  each  other,  so  that  in  i486,  on  the 
accession  of  the  Tudors,  there  remained  only  twenty- 
five  lords.  The  king  created  some  new  ones,  but  these 
"mushroom"  lords  were  not  respected  as  were  those 
of  older  lineage.  In  the  sixteenth  century  the  House 
of  Commons  began  to  rule  itself  and  to  seize  the 
power.  Thus  came  into  existence  the  English  parlia- 
ment, which  alone  has  put  the  English  into  a  position 
to  defend  their  rights  against  the  despotism  of  royalty; 
an  original  institution,  special  to  England,  which, 
however,  all  civilized  nations  have  held  worthy  of 
imitation. 

The  English  Nation — In  the  fifteenth  century  the 
Saxons  and  the  Normans,  after  having  formed  two 
separate  peoples,  were  finally  blended  entirely  and 
formed  the  English  nation  ;  their  languages  were  fused 
into  a  new  tongue,  the  English ;  the  foundation  is  the 
old  Saxon,  the  language  of  the  people,  very  similar  to 
the  dialect  spoken  even  to-day  by  the  people  in  the 


168  MEDLEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

north  of  Germany  (platt-deutsch)  ;  the  French,  the 
language  of  the  nobles,  furnished  only  learned  terms, 
terms  used  in  law,  politics  and  philosophy,  yet  these 
are  pronounced  in  such  a  manner  as  to  render  them 
unrecognizable;  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  make  an 
English  sentence  without  the  aid  of  Saxon  words. 

At  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  English 
nation  was  not  yet  the  nation  of  sailors  and  merchants 
which  we  know,  and  nothing  indicated  that  it  was  to 
become  such  a  nation.  The  towns  were  small  and 
poor,  only  four  contained  more  than  10,000  inhab- 
itants. The  wool  of  the  English  sheep  was  not  woven 
in  England;  the  English  sold  it  to  the  weavers  of 
Flanders,  as  to-day  Australia  furnishes  wool  to  the 
English  manufacturers.  They  had,  as  yet,  neither 
fleets  nor  sailors.  It  was  a  people  of  farmers  and 
breeders  of  cattle,  yet  it  was  easy  to  see  in  them  the 
qualities  which  were  to  make  them  such  a  great  people, 
vigor  and  a  spirit  of  independence.  The  hero  of  the 
English  ballads  is  Robin  Hood,  an  outlaw,  chief  of 
some  bandits  who  lived  in  a  forest,  beating  to  death 
the  foresters  and  the  police,  but  generous  to  the  poor 
laborers.  On  a  bridge  he  met  Little  John,  who  would 
not  make  way  for  him.  They  fought  with  sticks  until 
their  bones  cracked.  Robin  then  fell  into  the  water, 
and  in  this  way  they  became  good  friends.  The 
English  already  liked  those  contests,  from  which  they 
came  out  with  broken  teeth  and  battered  ribs.  See 
the  singular  eulogy  that  a  noble  Englishman  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  Sir  John  Fortescue,  delivered  on 
his  nation: 

"One  has  often  seen  in  England  three  or  four  ban- 


ENGLAND   IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES  159 

dits  rush  upon  seven  or  eight  honest  men  and  kill  them 
all,  but  in  France  one  has  never  seen  seven  or  eight 
bandits  bold  enough  to  rob  three  or  four  honest  men. 
Therefore  there  are  more  men  hung  in  England  in 
one  year  for  brigandage  and  murder  than  there  are 
for  the  same  crimes  in  France  in  seven  years." 

The  English  have  an  uncontrollable  desire  for  inde- 
pendence. "The  king,"  says  the  same  author,  "cannot 
govern  his  people  by  other  laws  than  those  which  they 
themselves  have  agreed  upon,  and  so  he  cannot  levy 
on  them  any  tax  without  their  consent."  And  com- 
paring the  welfare  of  the  English  yeoman  with  that 
of  the  French  peasant,  he  continues :  "Every  inhab- 
itant of  this  kingdom  enjoys  the  result  which  his  land 
and  his  cattle  produce  for  him,  he  uses  them  to  please 
himself,  and  no  one  can,  by  rapine,  prevent  him  from 
doing  so.  He  is  not  brought  to  justice  except  before 
the  common  judges  and  according  to  the  law  of  the 
land.  That  is  the  reason  why  the  people  of  this  coun- 
try are  so  well  supplied  with  gold  and  silver  and  with 
all  the  necessaries  of  life.  They  drink  no  water  except 
as  a  penance ;  they  eat  freely  of  meat  and  fish ;  they 
have  stuffs  of  good  wool,  and  are  rich  in  furniture  and 
in  instruments  of  cultivation,  and  in  everything  which 
serves  to  render  their  lives  tranquil  and  happy." 


CHAPTER   XII 

FOUNDING    OF    GERMAN    STATES 

The  German  Conquest — The  Germanic  peoples,  in 
bearing  towards  the  West  in  order  to  enter  the  Roman 
Empire,  had  abandoned  the  East  to  people  of  another 
race,  the  Slavs,  so  that  in  the  ninth  century  all  the 
countries  to  the  east  of  the  Elbe  belonged  to  the  Slav 
tribes.  Saint  Boniface  had  met,  even  on  the  banks  of 
the  Fulda,  Slavs  who  made  sport  of  him.  Back  on  the 
shores  of  the  Baltic  were  preserved  some  old  peoples 
(Prussians,  Lithuanians,  and  Finns).  These  peoples 
were  pagans  and  warriors,  but  badly  armed  and 
divided  into  tribes,  they  were  too  feeble  to  make  any 
resistance.  '  The  Germans  undertook  to  convert  them 
and  to  subdue  them.  The  kings  of  Germany  founded 
marks,  that  is,  frontier  countries,  and  permitted  the 
counts  in  these  countries  (the  Margraves)  to  govern 
as  they  pleased.  From  these  marks  have  come  the 
principal  states  of  Germany :  from  the  mark  of  Bran- 
denburg in  the  north,  the  kingdom  of  Prussia ;  from 
the  mark  of  Meissen  in  the  centre,  the  kingdom  of 
Saxony;  from  the  eastern  mark,  the  empire  of  Aus- 
tria. They  also  founded  bishoprics,  which  sent  out 
missionaries.  The  conversion  of  the  people  was  very 
slow  (from  the  tenth  to  the  fourteenth  century,  and 
was   carried   on   in    many   different   ways).     In    the 

160 


FOUNDING   OF   GERMAN    STATES  161 

greater  part  of  the  country  the  Slav  princes  were  con- 
verted through  the  influence  of  their  wives,  who  were 
soon  won  over  to  the  Christian  religion.  They  broke 
their  idols  and  forced  their  subjects  to  become  Chris- 
tians ;  in  Poland,  those  who  ate  meat  in  Lent  had  their 
teeth  drawn.  In  these  countries  the  inhabitants  re- 
mained Slavs,  their  national  chief  took  the  title  of 
duke  or  king,1  and  was  recognized  as  a  vassal  of  the 
emperor.  The  greater  number  of  these  people  were 
not  zealots.  When  the  Spaniard,  Saint  Bernard,  seek- 
ing martyrdom,  came  into  Pomerania  and  broke  their 
sacred  idols,  the  pagans  were  content  to  beat  him; 
then,  as  he  continued  preaching,  they  put  him  in  a 
boat  and  set  him  adrift  on  the  Oder  river,  saying: 
"If  you  are  so  anxious  to  preach,  go  talk  to  the  fish 
and  the  birds." 

Some  of  the  people  in  the  North,  on  the  contrary, 
showed  themselves  quite  restive ;  the  Obotrites  massa- 
cred a  king  who  wanted  to  convert  them  (1066). 
Later  the  Livonians,  when  the  German  knights  had 
by  force  baptized  them,  on  the  departure  of  the  army 
hastened  to  throw  themselves  into  the  Dwina  to  wash 
away  the  baptism.  The  Germans  waged  a  war  of 
extermination  against  them.  The  Margraves  of  the 
frontier  conquered  the  country  of  the  Wends  (which 
is  called  Brandenburg)  ;  the  knights  of  the  Teutonic 
Order  conquered  Prussia;  the  knights  of  Porte-Glaive, 
Livonia  and  Esthonia.    They  burned  the  villages,  mas- 

1  King  in  Bohemia,  and  in  Poland,  Margrave  in  Moravia,  duke 
in  Silesia,  Mecklenburg,  Pomerania,  Lithuania.  It  was  the 
same  with  the  Hungarians,  a  barbarous  people  of  Finnish  origin' 
They  were  Christianized  and  their  chief  became  King  of  Hun- 
gary. 


162  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

sacred  the  men  and  carried  off  the  women  and  children. 
So  many  captive  Slavs  were  sold  throughout  Germany 
that  the  word  slav,  in  French  as  well  as  in  German, 
took  and  kept  the  meaning  of  slave. 

The  Wends  were  exterminated;  of  all  this  people, 
only  a  remnant  remains.  This  remnant  had  taken 
refuge  in  the  marshes  of  the  river  Spree.  The  Prus- 
sians and  the  Livonians  were  reduced  to  the  condition 
of  subjects.  The  German  race  gained,  in  this  way, 
three  new  provinces,  Brandenburg,  Prussia,  and 
Livonia. 

German  Colonization — The  great  plains  of  the  Oder 

and  the  Vistula,  low  and  damp,  were  then  covered 
with  marshy  forests.  Brandenburg,  the  sand-pit  of 
Germany,  was  hardly  more  than  a  cheerless  desert  of 
sand.  Even  to-day,  when  the  wind  rages,  the  sand 
stops  up  the  doorways  of  the  houses,  and  on  the 
plateau  of  Flaming  the  burgomaster  keeps  the  key  of 
the  village  fountain,  and  distributes  to  each  villager 
his  ration  of  water.  In  order  to  cultivate  these  sands, 
to  clear  these  woods  and  to  found  cities,  the  princes, 
German  and  Slav,  called  from  Germany  the  peasants 
and  artisans  who  were  willing  to  go.1  The  Germans 
were  content  to  emigrate,  and  for  two  centuries  thou- 
sands of  German  families  came  and  settled  in  the  dis- 
tant deserts  of  the  East,  as  in  our  day  they  do  into  the 
distant  deserts  of  America.  The  prince  sold  to  a  con- 
tractor a  bit  of  forest  or  of  waste  land  sufficient  for  a 
village.  The  contractor  brought  in  peasants  and  dis- 
tributed to  them,  by  lot,  the  lands,  reserving  for  him- 

1  Even  the  Dutch  came  from  Holland,  and  constructed  the 
dikes,  draining  the  marshes  along  the  Elbe  and  the  Oder. 


FOUNDING   OF   GERMAN    STATES  163 

self  a  certain  rent  of  the  same ;  he  became  their  heredi- 
tary bailiff,  but  the  peasants  remained  free,  "because 
they  were  the  first  to  clear  the  soil,"  and  they  kept 
their  German  customs.  When  it  was  a  question  of 
founding  a  city,  the  contractor  had  it  surrounded  by 
a  moat  and  by  walls,  and  established  there  a  market, 
upon  which  he  reserved  the  right  to  levy  taxes.  This 
great  labor  was  slowly  and  quietly  carried  on.  The 
writers  of  the  time  were  too  much  occupied  with  the 
wars  of  the  emperors  to  dream  of  relating  the  story  of 
the  founding  of  thousands  of  villages  and  hundreds 
of  towns  in  the  provinces  of  Brandenburg,  Pomerania, 
Prussia,  Liberia,  and  Bohemia.  On  the  other  side  of 
the  Elbe  a  new  Germany  was  born,  a  Germany  of 
laborers  and  soldiers,  the  Germany  of  Austria  and  of 
Prussia,  which  was  some  day  to  rule  all  the  nations 
of  old  Germany. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

CITIES   OF   THE   MIDDLE   AGES 

The  Free  Cities. — The  principal  cities  of  Germany 
had  been  built  about  the  palace  of  the  king,1  or  around 
the  home  of  a  bishop2  or  a  prince.  The  king  or  the 
bishop  was  master  of  the  town;  the  merchants  were 
his  tenants,  for  the  soil  of  the  town  belonged  to  him ; 
the  artisans  were  his  slaves,  and  they  worked  for  him 
and  for  his  people ;  his  knights  and  his  domestics  gov- 
erned the  artisans  and  merchants.  But  according  as 
the  population  increased  the  master  gave  up  regulating 
the  duties  of  the  inhabitants,  and  he  demanded  only  a 
rent  even  from  the  artisans,  who  were  descendants  of 
slaves.  In  the  towns  all  were  freemen.  The  most 
prosperous  towns  of  the  twelfth  century  were  those 
which  belonged  to  the  bishops.  A  German  proverb 
says :  "It  is  a  good  thing  to  live  under  the  crozier." 
In  order  to  govern  his  city,  the  bishop  united  his 
domestics  and  the  principal  merchants  in  a  council ; 
it  was  at  that  time  nothing  but  the  bishop's  council ; 
but  in  the  thirteenth  century,  when  the  cities,  having 
become  powerful,  drove  away  their  bishops,  it  became 
the  town  council.  This  council  had  all  the  powers  of 
a  prince;  it  judged,  made  war,  and  treated  directly 

1  For  example:    Aix-la-Chapelle  and  Frankfort. 

2  For  example :  Cologne,  Strasburg,  Mayence,  Hamburg  and 
Bremen. 

164 


CITIES   OF  THE   MIDDLE   AGES  165 

with  the  superior.  The  city  was  called  a  free  city,1  for 
it  obeyed  no  seignior. 

The  Trades  Corporations In  the   time  when  the 

artisans,  still  slaves  of  the  bishop,  worked  only  for 
him  and  for  his  escort,  they  were  divided  into  small 
bands ;  each,  composed  of  men  who  did  the  same  kind 
of  work,  was  obedient  to  a  domestic  of  the  bishop. 
This  band  was  called  a  trade  corporation,  and  the  chief 
was  a  minister.  There  was  a  corporation  of  black- 
smiths, of  saddlers,  of  tailors,  etc.  From  that  came 
the  word  "metier"  in  the  sense  which  we  give  to  it 
to-day,  a  trade.  The  artisans  gradually  became  free; 
in  place  of  working  for  their  suzerain,  and  being  main- 
tained by  him,  they  worked  on  their  own  account  and 
sold  their  products  in  the  market;  but  they  remained 
organized  in  a  corporation.  Each  trade  formed  a 
single  corps.  It  had  its  common  coffer,  its  banner, 
which  was  carried  in  processions  and  which  was  taken 
along  when  the  town  went  to  war;  it  had  its  patron 
saint  (the  carpenters  had  Saint  Joseph,  the  shoemakers 
Saint  Crispin),  it  had  chiefs,  people  who  were  in  the 
same  trade  (in  France  they  were  called  wardens),  it 
had  its  own  regulations ;  following  the  custom  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  these  rules  were  unwritten.  In  France 
it  was  not  until  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century 
even  that  the  rules  of  the  trades  corporations  in  Paris 
were  drawn  up  in  due  form.  These  regulations  fixed 
the  conditions  upon  which  any  one  was  admitted  into 

1  The  cities  of  the  bishops  became  "free  cities";  the  principal 
ones  were  the  six  cities  of  the  Rhine:  Cologne,  Mayence,  Stras- 
burg,  Speyer,  Worms,  Basle.  The  cities  which  had  belonged  to 
the  Emperor  were  called  "free  cities  of  the  Empire";  they 
were  also  independent,  .Nuremberg,  Ulm,  Augsburg. 


166  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

the  trade.  The  child  must  begin  by  being  apprenticed 
to  a  master  of  the  trade ;  the  master  teaches  him,  feeds 
and  clothes  him.  The  apprentice  must  work  for  the 
master  and  must  obey  him;  the  master  having  the 
right  to  beat  him  if  it  is  necessary.  At  the  end  of 
several  years  the  apprentice  becomes  a  journeyman; 
he  still  works  for  his  employer,  but  is  paid  and  is  only 
engaged  for  a  short  time ;  he  may  leave  his  employer 
and  go  to  another.  The  journeymen  were  a  race  of 
vagabonds;  many  went  from  town  to  town  offering 
their  services ;  the  usage  of  "making  a  tour  of  France" 
was  preserved  among  us  for  a  long  time.  Those 
who  are  rich  enough  to  open  a  shop  become  masters 
(employers)  ;  they  alone  can  vote  in  the  assembly  of 
the  trades.  The  regulations  also  prescribe  how  one 
must  work;  he  is  forbidden  to  work  elsewhere  than 
in  his  shop,  so  that  the  public  may  watch  over  him ;  he 
is  forbidden  to  work  by  artificial  light,  in  order  not  to 
do  bad  work;  he  is  forbidden  to  employ  other  mate- 
rials or  to  make  objects  by  any  other  measure  than  the 
rules  call  for.  The  silversmiths  must  not  set  gold  on 
silver ;  the  makers  of  statues  must  employ  only  a  cer- 
tain kind  of  wood.  If  a  piece  of  cloth  was  narrower 
or  wider  than  the  prescribed  measure  it  was  confis- 
cated and  the  merchant  was  fined.  The  people  of  the 
"guild"  insisted  on  guarding  their  honor,  and  their 
honor  consisted  in  not  permitting  any  but  honestly 
made  merchandise  to  be  sold ;  that  is  the  reason  why 
they  watched  each  other  so  closely.  In  return  they 
supported  each  other  against  foreigners  and  against 
the  men  of  the  other  trades  or  guilds.  No  one  in  the 
town  had  the  right  to  manufacture  or  sell  save  the 


CITIES   OF   THE   MIDDLE   AGES  167 

masters  in  the  business;  the  man  who  would  open  a 
tailor  shop  without  having  been  received  into  the  cor- 
poration of  tailors  would  be  fined  and  his  shop  would 
be  closed.  The  right  to  manufacture  and  sell  objects 
of  a  trade  belonged  exclusively  to  the  men  of  that  cor- 
poration. The  tailors  prevented  the  old-clothes  men 
from  selling  new  garments,  for  they  alone  had  the 
right  to  sell  them ;  the  business  of  the  old-clothes 
man  was  to  sell  old  clothes.  The  makers  of  bits 
and  bridles  had  a  suit  against  the  saddlers,  to  for- 
bid them  manufacturing  bridles.  The  trades  of  the 
Middle  Ages  had  a  horror  of  competition.  The  princi- 
pal trades  were  those  of  the  butchers,  weavers,  dyers, 
masons,  tanners,  armorers,  carpenters.  The  number 
of  trades  depended  on  the  importance  of  the  town; 
many  German  towns  had  only  eighteen  or  twenty ;  in 
Paris  there  were  more  than  one  hundred.  Many 
different  callings  could  be  united  in  a  single  corpora- 
tion, or  one  calling  could  be  divided  among  several 
corporations ;  for  example,  there  were  three  corpora- 
tions of  chaplet  manufacturers  in  Paris. 

The  Patricians. — In  the  Middle  Ages  all  the  callings 
were  organized  into  corporations,  even  those  that  we 
call  the  liberal  professions :  there  were  corporations 
for  the  drapers,  mercers,  wholesale  grocers,  apothe- 
caries, money  changers,  doctors,  and  the  university 
even  was  only  a  corporation  of  professors.  The  mer- 
chants were  more  honored  than  the  artisans,  for  they 
grew  rich  in  selling  at  a  great  profit  the  goods  which 
had  come  from  a  distance.  At  first  they  had  been 
inferior  to  the  knightly  domestics  or  servitors  of  the 
bishop  who  governed  the  town ;  gradually  they  had 


168  MEDLEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

mingled  with  them,  had  entered  into  the  council  and 
had  even  become  knights. 

After  his  victory  over  the  King  of  Bohemia  (1278) 
the  Emperor  Rudolph  armed  as  knights  one  hundred 
young  men  of  Zurich.  The  knights  in  the  country 
scorned  the  merchant-knights  and  often  refused  to 
allow  them  to  take  part  in  their  tournaments.  It 
required  some  effort  not  to  admit  that  labor  dishonored 
a  man.1  But  in  their  city  the  merchants  and  the  pro- 
prietors formed  a  nobility ;  they  had  themselves  called 
"seignior,"  and  called  themselves  patricians  or  fami- 
lies. Even  to  the  fourteenth  century  they  alone  formed 
the  council  and  governed  the  town.  In  the  fourteenth 
century  the  members  of  the  corporations  or  guilds 
demanded  permission  to  take  part  in  the  affairs  of  the 
town,  and  in  almost  all  the  free  cities,2  after  several 
riots,  they  forced  the  patricians  to  admit  them  to  the 
ccftmcil.  From  that  time  there  were  two  kinds  of  mem- 
bers in  the  council,  the  "seigniors"  and  the  "masters" 
(usually  the  master  of  a  trade)  :  the  masters  were  in 
the  majority  and  held  sway. 

The  Hanseatic  League. — The  towns  were  enriched 
through  commerce  especially.  The  richest  were '  in 
the  South,  those  through  which  passed  the  great  high- 
way from  Italy,  Augsburg  and  Nuremberg;   in  the 

1  It  was  said  that  Rudolph  of  Hapsburg  having  seen,  near 
Basle,  a  tanner  dyeing  his  skins,  laughingly  said  to  him:  "You 
would  rather  have  100  marks  revenue?"  "I  have  them,"  said 
the  tanner;  and  he  invited  the  King  to  his  table,  receiving  him 
in  ceremonious  attire.  "How,"  said  the  King,  "can  you,  being 
rich,  do  such  dirty  work?"  "It  is  by  this  noisome  work  that 
I  have  become  rich,"  answered  the  tanner. 

2  In  some  of  the  cities,  however  (Nuremberg,  Berne,  Luzerne), 
the  patricians  guarded  the  power  until  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century. 


CITIES   OF   THE   MIDDLE    AGES  109 

North,  those  that  had  their  ports  on  the  Baltic  or  on 
the  North  Sea,  Liibeck,  Hamburg,  and  Bremen.  In 
those  times  commerce  was  carried  on  only  with  arms 
in  the  hands.  The  merchant  had  to  defend  his  ships 
and  his  merchandise  while  en  route,  and  to  make  him- 
self respected  in  the  marts  of  trade.  In  order  to  be 
stronger,  the  merchants  of  the  commercial  towns 
formed  an  association.  Their  league  was  called  the 
Hanseatic  League.  One  by  one  all  the  towns  in  North- 
ern Germany  from  the  Baltic  to  the  Low  Countries 
became  members  of  it;  there  were  eighty  of  them  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  extending  from  Riga  in  the 
East  to  Bruges  in  the  West.  In  each  port  of  Sweden, 
Norway,  and  Russia  the  league  had  a  mansion,  a 
veritable  fortress,  guarded  by  a  band  of  armed  em- 
ployees, all  unmarried,  organized  as  a  guild,  with  a 
master,  journeymen  and  apprentices.  No  stranger 
was  allowed  to  go  through  the  building,  and  at  evening 
the  watch-dogs  were  turned  loose.  The  building 
served  as  a  storehouse  for  merchandise,  a  market  and 
a  tribunal.  Each  year  great  ships  laden  with  linens 
and  cloths  from  Flanders,  spices  and  silks  from  the 
Orient,  departed  from  the  Hanse  towns ;  these  ships 
armed  for  war  had  their  complement  of  soldiers,  their 
decks  were  defended  by  two  strong  forts  made  of 
wood.  They  arrived  at  the  foreign  ports,  at  Bergen, 
Riga  or  Novgorod;1  the  merchants  took  lodgings 
within  the  walls,  unloaded  and  put  on  sale  their  goods. 
Disputes  were  adjudicated  by  a  tribunal  of  the  Hanse. 
Then  the  ships  set  out  again,  laden  with  woods,  wax, 
skins,  and  especially  with  dried  fish.  At  this  period 
1  Novgorod  was  a  great  trade  centre,  but  not  a  port. — Ed. 


170  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

enormous  shoals  of  herring  frequented  the  Baltic;  in 
the  fifteenth  century  they  began  to  go  towards  the 
North  Sea,  and  gradually  the  ports  of  the  Baltic  were 
abandoned. 

The  towns  of  the  Hanse  with  their  warlike  fleets 
had  become  more  powerful  in  Norway  than  the  king 
himself.  They  prevented  the  inhabitants  from  receiv- 
ing other  ships  except  their  own,  and  many  times  they 
fought  great  battles  on  the  sea.  Their  power  lasted 
until  the  sixteenth  century. 

The  Cities  of  Flanders — In  Flanders,  also,  some 
cities  had  become  rich.  The  English,  who  at  this  time 
raised  great  flocks  of  sheep,  had  as  yet  no  workmen  to 
manufacture  their  wool ;  they  sent  it  to  Flanders.  The 
Flemish  weavers  made  it  into  cloths,  the  Flemish 
dyers  colored  them  with  woad  (pastel),  the  Flemish 
cloth-merchants  sold  them  throughout  all  Europe. 
There  were  also  many  linen  weavers  in  Flanders.  As 
in  the  German  cities,  the  workmen  were  organized 
into  guilds ;  the  principal  ones  were  the  weavers,  dyers, 
cloth-merchants,  and  blacksmiths.  Bruges  was,  be- 
sides, the  great  seaport  for  the  merchants  of  the 
Hanse;  the  town  had  180,000  inhabitants.  Three 
towns  especially  ruled  the  others,  Ghent,  Bruges, 
Ypres.1  All  belonged  to  the  Count  of  Flanders,  but 
they  had  their  governors  taken  from  among  the  rich 
merchants,  and  they  had  also  an  army  composed  of 
their  own  workmen ;  they  did  not  receive  their  count 
until  they  had  made  him  swear  to  respect  their  cus- 
toms, and  even  then  they  often  made  war  upon  him. 

>The  towns  of  Brabant,  Brussels  and  Mechlin,  also  began 
to  manufacture  cloths  and  linens. 


CITIES   OF   THE   MIDDLE   AGES  171 

In  the  fifteenth  century  the  cities  of  Flanders  began 
to  grow  poor  and  their  wealth  passed  over  to  Antwerp. 
The  Interior  of  the  Towns The  towns  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  did  not  at  all  resemble  our  modern  towns. 
The  houses  of  the  notables  were  small  fortresses ;  the 
others  resembled  the  houses  of  the  peasants,  having 
a  court-yard  and  granaries.  But  there  were  also  quar- 
ters for  the  artisans ;  almost  always  people  of  the  same 
occupation  were  gathered  into  the  same  street.1  There 
was  a  "Tanner  street,"  a  "Saddler  street,"  etc.  Each 
employer  had  on  the  ground  floor  a  shop,  which  served 
as  a  work-room  where  he  worked  before  the  eyes 
of  the  public.  The  second  story,  where  he  and  his 
family  lived,  projected  over  the  street,  as  if  it  were 
trying  to  join  on  to  the  house  opposite.  In  the  houses 
which  had  several  stories,  each  story  extended  beyond 
the  one  beneath.  The  house,  according  to  the  ancient 
custom,  was  usually  built  of  wood  and  was  covered 
with  a  peaked  roof;  often  it  was  ornamented  by  a 
gable,  a  turret  or  an  "erker"  (alcove,  with  windows 
which  projected  over  the  street).  In  the  countries 
where  rain  was  frequent  the  "erker"  took  the  place 
of  the  balcony.  The  houses  which  bordered  the  two 
sides  of  the  street  were  not  built  on  a  straight  line. 
They  formed  a  slight  curve,  the  street  sometimes  grew 
wider,  sometimes  narrower.  The  streets  were  badly 
paved,  full  of  mud  puddles,  encumbered  with  merchan- 
dise in  the  commercial  quarters;  in  others,  cows  and 
hogs  went  about  freely.  In  the  fifteenth  century,  when 
a  town  was  preparing  to  receive  a  visit  from  the  em- 
peror, the  council   ordered  the  removal  of  the  men 

1  The  usage  was  general  in  Europe. 


172  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

hanging  upon  the  gallows,  and  also  the  filth  lying 
before  the  houses.  The  street  was  not,  as  in  our  time, 
a  place  of  passage ;  it  was  made  for  those  who  dwelt 
in  it,  not  for  those  who  passed  through  it. 

The  town  was  surrounded  by  a  moat  and  a  rampart 
of  stones;  on  the  wall  arose  here  and  there  towers, 
round  or  square,  massive  or  slender.  There  were  very 
few  towns  which  did  not  have  hundreds  of  these 
towers.  They  were  both  a  defense  and  a  decoration. 
Nuremberg  had  more  than  three  hundred  of  them. 
The  town  was  a  fortress ;  it  was  entered  only  through 
a  vaulted  gateway,  which  was  closed  at  night.  This 
wall,  bristling  with  towers  and  spires,  these  irregular 
streets,  where  each  house  has  its  own  physiognomy, 
where  the  eye  is  ceaselessly  attracted  to  a  gable,  a 
pointed  roof,  a  bold  ledge,  an  iron  arm  bearing  a  sign, 
all  give  to  these  old1  towns  a  living  and  varied  aspect. 
They  are  less  convenient  than  our  great  modern  towns, 
with  their  broad,  straight  streets  and  their  uniform 
houses,  but  one  may  think  them  much  more  agreeable 
to  look  at. 

1  All  the  towns  of  the  Middle  Ages  were  built  in  the  same 
style;  the  old  engravings  which  represent  the  French  or  even 
the  Lombard  towns  in  the  sixteenth  century,  show  that  they  re- 
semble the  German  towns,  but  in  France  and  in  Italy,  almost 
all  the  old  quarters  have  been  destroyed.  But  few  remains  of 
them  are  found  in  places — like  Rouen,  Dijon,  Troyes.  In  Ger- 
many and  in  Flanders,  the  old  houses  have  been  better  pre- 
served. Nuremberg  is  the  best  of  all  the  large  German  towns, 
but  a  portion  of  the  ramparts  has  been  demolished.  Rothen- 
bourg  on  the  Lauber,  where  nothing  has  been  changed  since 
the  sixteenth  century,  gives  more  perfectly  than  any  other  the 
impression  of  an  ancient  town. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

PROGRESS   OF  PATRIOTISM  AND  OF  ROYAL 
AUTHORITY   IN    FRANCE 

PROGRESS    OF    ROYALTY 

The  Innovations  of  Philip  the  Fair Saint  Louis 

drew  enough  revenue  from  his  domains  to  cover  his 
expenses,  and  beyond  that,  for  at  his  death  there 
remained  some  money  in  his  coffers.  Philip  IV., 
though  much  richer  than  Saint  Louis,  passed  his  reign 
in  need  of  money,  and  in  trying  to  invent  means  to 
procure  it.  He  had  undertaken  some  ruinous  wars, 
first  against  the  King  of  England  and  then  against  the 
Flemings,  and  the  revenues  of  his  domains  were  inad- 
equate.    He  conceived  the  following  procedure  : 

1.  He  altered  the  coinage  sixteen  times  in  the 
course  of  ten  years,  "so  that  no  one  knew  how  much 
he  really  possessed" ;  the  pound,  which  in  the  time  of 
Saint  Louis  was  worth  sixteen  francs  of  our  money, 
fell  in  value  to  six  francs  fifty  centimes. 

2.  He  expelled  the  Jews,  condemned  the  Templars 
in  order  to  confiscate  their  possessions. 

3.  He  levied  taxes  on  the  clergy  in  spite  of  the 
formal  prohibition  of  the  pope. 

4.  He  borrowed  from  those  who  were  willing  to 
lend  to  him,  and  even  from  those  who  were  not  so 
disposed. 

173 


174  MEDLEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

5.  He  established  the  tax  of  the  "twentieth"  (five 
per  cent.),  which  all  who  bought  or  sold  merchandise 
must  pay;  the  people  called  it  the  "maltote"1  (unjust 
levy),  and  this  name  clung  to  it. 

6.  He  established  the  tax  of  the  "fiftieth"  on  all 
property. 

7.  He  several  times  proclaimed  the  "arriere-ban," 
that  is,  a  levy  en  masse,  when  all  the  subjects  of  the 
kingdom  were  called  upon  to  arm  or  to  pay  a  large 
sum  in  redemption.  The  king  much  preferred  that  they 
should  pay;  he  sent  men  in  whom  he  had  confidence 
into  the  towns  in  order  to  represent  to  the  citizens 
how  much  it  would  be  to  their  advantage  to  pay  rather 
than  to  depart. 

All  these  innovations,  advised  by  the  lawyers  and  the 
Italian  bankers,  were  brutally  introduced,  without  any 
respect  for  justice  or  for  custom.  The  people  of  sev- 
eral towns  rebelled  against  these  new  imposts,  and  at 
the  death  of  Philip,  in  several  provinces,  Normandy, 
Burgundy,  Picardy,  Forez,  the  lords  and  the  bour- 
geoisie formed  leagues,  such  as  had  never  before  been 
seen  in  France.  They  were  for  the  purpose  of  forcing 
Louis  X.  to  renounce  the  procedure  of  his  father. 
Louis  X.  was  obliged  to  yield,  and  to  promise  never 
to  levy  a  money  tax.  But  the  habit  was  formed.  The 
reign  of  Philip  the  Fair  had  created  a  precedent,  in 
showing  how  the  king  could  procure  money  for  him- 
self. He  had  also  given  the  example  of  uniting  in  one 
assembly  the  lords,  the  prelates,  and  the  deputies  from 
the  cities.  From  that  was  to  come  the  institution  of 
the  Estates-General. 

1  Maltolo.     Signifies  extortion. — Ed. 


ROYAL   AUTHORITY   IN   FRANCE  175 

The  Parlement — The  kings  of  France,  at  first  like 
all  the  great  lords,  had  but  one  single  court,  which  fol- 
lowed them  in  their  journeys;  it  was  composed  of  all 
the  servants  of  the  king's  household,  the  great  lords, 
their  vassals,  the  bishops,  their  advisers,  the  great 
officers  of  their  households,  the  clergy,  and  the  bour- 
geois who  had  charge  of  letters  and  accounts ;  it  con- 
sidered all  the  affairs  of  the  king,  his  ordinances,  his 
suits,  and  his  accounts.  In  the  thirteenth  century  order 
was  brought  out  of  this  confusion,  the  court  was 
gradually  separated  into  three  corps :  the  Council  took 
care  of  the  affairs  of  the  government,  the  Court  of 
Accounts  was  charged  with  the  auditing  of  the  ac- 
counts of  the  agents  of  the  king,  the  Parlement  was 
to  sit  in  judgment  in  civil  suits.  Instead  of  going  from 
place  to  place  with  the  king,  these  bodies  remained  in 
Paris,  they  held  their  sittings  in  the  king's  palace  (in 
the  city),  which  has  ever  since  been  called  the  Palace 
of  Justice.  There  were  two  sessions  of  parlement 
each  year.  The  suits  became  more  numerous  as  the 
king  increased  his  domains.  To  sit  in  parlement  be- 
came a  painful  duty;  the  sitting  began  at  six  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  it  was  necessary  to  listen  to  the  discus- 
sions until  the  hour  for  dinner,  about  ten  o'clock,  the 
litigants  succeeded  each  other  without  interruption, 
and  the  sitting  was  resumed  after  dinner  "at  the  after- 
noon hearing."  The  lords  and  the  prelates  were  not 
made  for  this  business;  at  the  Court  of  Accounts  it 
was  necessary  to  forbid  them  to  come  into  the  hall  for 
a  chat  while  the  clerks  were  verifying  the  accounts. 
Soon  they  ceased  to  come  to  parlement,  and  from  the 
reign  of  Philip  the  Fair  it  was  necessary  to  designate 


176  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

officially,  for  each  session,  a  lord  and  a  bishop,  whom 
the  king  made,  through  propriety,  sit  in  the  parlement 
so  that  his  court  should  not  seem  to  be  solely  com- 
posed of  ordinary  people.  Thus,  through  the  negli- 
gence of  the  seigniors,  the  lawyers,  the  petty  nobility, 
the  bourgeois  and  the  clergy  soon  became  the  supreme 
judges  of  the  kingdom. 

This  parlement  had  nothing  in  common  with  the 
English  parliament  save  the  name.  It  was  not  a 
council  of  the  nation,  but  a  tribunal,  not  even  the 
tribunal  of  the  kingdom,  but  only  a  court  of  the  king. 
Never  was  it  called  the  Parlement  of  France,  but  only 
the  Parlement  of  Paris.  The  other  princes  of  France 
all  had  similar  tribunals.  There  was  a  parlement  at 
Dijon,  at  Rennes,  and  at  Grenoble;  all  were  inde- 
pendent of  the  Parlement  of  Paris;  and  even  in  his 
own  domain  the  king  created  for  the  provinces  which 
followed  the  Roman  law  a  special  parlement,  the  Par- 
lement of  Toulouse. 

The  Estates  General  of  France. — In  France,  Philip 
the  Fair  was  the  first  king  who  convoked  the  assemblies, 
He  called  together  the  three  classes :  ecclesiastics 
(bishops  and  abbots),  nobles  and  bourgeoisie  sent 
from  the  towns.  The  assembly  included  then  the  three 
classes  of  society,  or,  as  was  then  said,  of  the  three 
estates  of  the  kingdom.  The  clergy  and  the  nobility 
formed  the  first  two;  to  the  citizens  who  formed  the 
third  class  a  number  instead  of  a  name  was  given;  it 
was  the  "tiers,"  or  third  estate.  Only  people  from 
the  towns  could  join  it,  the  peasantry  were  not  repre- 
sented, for  in  France  they  did  not  form  an  estate ;  it 
is  true  that  the  taxes  had  to  be  borne  chiefly  by  them, 


ROYAL   AUTHORITY   IN    FRANCE  177 

but  the  king  did  not  want  to  consult  with  them ;  it  was 
from  their  masters,  the  prelates  and  the  nobles,  that 
he  demanded  permission  to  levy  taxes  upon  the  peas- 
sants  of  their  domains. 

The  king  united  the  estates  sometimes  of  a  single 
province,  sometimes  of  several  provinces.  The  assem- 
bly of  a  province  was  called  the  Provincial  Estates,  that 
of  the  whole  kingdom  was  the  Estates  General.  But 
these  names  were  not  used  until  after  the  fourteenth 
century.  Properly  speaking,  there  were  no  estates 
truly  general  before  those  of  1484,  for  until  that  time 
the  estates  in  the  south  of  France  held  their  assembly 
by  themselves,  but  there  were  some  estates  more  gen- 
eral than  were  others  (that  is  to  say,  the  assemblies  of 
the  estates  of  almost  all  of  the  provinces  in  northern 
France).  Such  were  those  of  Paris  (1356)  and  of 
Orleans  (1439). 

The  sovereign  princes,  such  as  the  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy or  the  Duke  of  Brittany,  convened  the  estates 
of  their  domains. 

For  a  long  time  the  members  of  the  estates  saw 
nothing  in  these  assemblies  but  a  painful  burden;  the 
towns  complained  because  they  had  to  pay  the  ex- 
penses of  the  journey  for  their  delegates ;  the  lords, 
to  avoid  inconvenience,  sent  a  proxy  to  represent  them. 
It  was  often  necessary  for  the  king  to  constrain  the 
towns  to  send  their  representatives,  by  threatening  to 
fine  those  who  failed  to  be  present.  But  gradually 
the  estates  learned  how  to  make  use  of  their  reunions 
for  the  purpose  of  presenting  their  complaints  to  the 
king,  that  is,  the  complaints  against  his  government. 
They  thought  of  obtaining  satisfaction  by  the  refusal 


178  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

of  money.  In  1355,  when  King  John  demanded  help, 
the  estates  of  Paris  declared  themselves  ready  to  vote 
it,  but  on  condition  that  the  king,  in  exchange,  give  up 
the  making  of  counterfeit  money  and  the  confiscation 
of  merchandise  without  paying  for  it.  When  the  king 
was  taken  prisoner  the  estates  meeting  in  1356  de- 
manded that  the  dauphin  should  permit  them  to 
organize  and  to  superintend  the  levy  of  the  aid.  They 
tried  to  take  possession  of  the  government  by  forcing 
the  dauphin  to  change  his  councillors,  and  by  deciding 
that  the  estates  should  have  the  right  to  assemble  with- 
out being  convoked  by  the  king.  But  the  greater 
number  of  the  inhabitants  of  France  never  dreamed 
of  limiting  the  power  of  their  king.  The  Great  Ordi- 
nance of  1356,  which  closely  resembled  the  Magna 
Charta  of  England,  did  not  end  with  guarantees  in 
favor  of  the  subjects;  it  remained  a  dead  letter,  and 
the  king  continued  to  govern  arbitrarily.  Charles  V. 
let  twenty  years  pass  without  convoking  the  Estates. 
Louis  XI.  summoned  them  only  once,  and  for  the 
mere  form;  Charles  VII.  in  1443  refused  to  call  them 
together,  saying  that  they  were  but  the  occasion  of 
expense.  In  northern  France  the  reunions  of  the 
estates  were  rare;  beginning  with  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury the  king  did  not  want  to  bring  them  together 
after  the  Estates  of  1356  had  organized  the  aid.  In 
the  south  it  was  necessary,  each  year,  to  call  together 
the  provincial  estates  of  several  provinces  to  have  them 
vote  the  "fouage"  (the  hearth  money)  ;  but  the  moment 
they  had  voted  the  king  hastened  to  dissolve  the 
assembly. 


ROYAL   AUTHORITY    IN    FRANCE  179 

PROGRESS   OF   PATRIOTISM   IN   FRANCE 

The  Birth  of  Patriotism  in  France. — The  sentiment 
which  we  call  patriotism  had  been  unknown  among 
the  inhabitants  of  Europe  during  the  first  centuries 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  bourgeoisie  loved  their 
town,  the  peasants  their  village,  the  knights  their 
lord;  the  inhabitants  of  a  country  were  attached  to 
the  family  of  their  king,  but  no  one  could  have  any 
patriotism,  for  the  idea  of  a  patrie  or  fatherland  did 
not  exist,  that  is,  the  idea  of  a  great  country  to  which 
one  may  be  attached,  no  matter  what  or  whom  the 
men  may  be  who  govern  it.  Therefore  they  had  no 
scruples  in  passing  over  from  the  service  of  the  King 
of  France  to  that  of  the  Emperor  or  of  the  King  of 
England. 

The  national  sentiment  appeared  in  France  for  the 
first  time  during  the  Hundred  Years'  War.  It  seemed 
as  if  it  were  born  of  the  hatred  which  the  people  of 
France  felt  for  the  English  invaders.  This  antipathy 
made  the  French  feel  as  if  they  were  one  people,  and 
as  if  they  ought  to  unite  against  the  common  enemy. 
Already  in  1356,  when  the  north  of  France  was  being 
ravaged  by  bands  in  the  pay  of  the  King  of  England, 
two  peasants  of  the  burgh  of  Longueil,  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Senlis,  Grand  Ferre  and  Guillaume  l'Aloue, 
had  fought  against  the  English  soldiers  established  in 
a  neighboring  chateau  and  had  killed  several  of  them. 
When  the  King  of  France  was  obliged,  by  the  treaty 
of  Bretigny  (1360),  to  cede  all  the  country  south  of 
the  Loire  to  the  King  of  England,  the  inhabitants  of 
La    Rochelle    declared    that   they   wanted   to    remain 


180  MEDLEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

French,  and  force  was  necessary  to  constrain  them  to 
recognize  the  King  of  England. 

But  it  was  especially  after  the  defeat  at  Agincourt 
and  the  treaty  of  Troyes  that  French  patriotism  had 
an  opportunity  to  manifest  itself.  The  English  had 
profited  by  the  madness  of  Charles  VI.  and  the  hatred 
of  Isabel  of  Bavaria  and  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  for 
the  Armagnacs,  in  order  to  declare  the  exclusion  of 
the  dauphin  Charles  from  the  throne  and  to  recognize 
as  King  of  France  Henry  VI.  of  England,  still  a 
mere  child.  The  north  of  France  and  the  city  of  Paris, 
where  the  Burgundian  party  ruled,  accepted  without 
objection  this  change  of  dynasty.  But  in  several  cities 
in  the  heart  of  the  country,  at  Rouen  and  in  Cham- 
pagne, a  national  party  was  formed,  which  did  not 
wish  to  obey  the  King  of  England,  and  which  saw  no 
other  way  of  safety  than  to  drive  the  English  out  of 
France.  A  poet  of  this  period,  Alain  Chartier,  repre- 
sents France  under  the  figure  of  a  sorrowing  mother ; 
she  appears  before  her  three  children,  the  noble,  the 
ecclesiastic,  the  man  of  the  third  estate,  and  exhorts 
them  to  fight  the  English  who  have  attacked  them. 
"Next  to  the  bond  of  the  Catholic  faith,"  she  tells 
them,  "nature  has  obliged  you,  before  all  else,  to  seek 
the  common  safety  of  the  land  of  your  nativity,  and 
to  defend  that  seigniory  under  whose  government  God 
ordered  you  to  be  born."  Alain  Chartier  was  the  first 
to  employ  the  word  "patrie,"  and  he  calls  the  French 
who  fought  in  the  ranks  of  the  English  renegades. 

Joan  of  Arc. — This  sentiment  of  duty  towards  the 
fatherland  expressed  by  Chartier  was  incarnate  in 
Joan  of  Arc.     She  was  born  on  the  frontier,  between 


ROYAL  AUTHORITY  IN  FRANCE      181 

Champagne  and  Lorraine,  in  the  village  of  Domremy, 
which  belonged  to  the  King  of  France,  but  which  was 
beside  some  villages  belonging  to  the  Duke  of  Lor- 
raine, a  vassal  of  the  emperor.  In  her  childhood  she 
had  witnessed  battles  between  the  people  of  her  village, 
partisans  of  the  Armagnacs,  and  those  of  the  village 
of  Marcy,  partisans  of  the  Burgundian  party.  She 
had  also  seen  bands  of  soldiers  ravaging  the  country. 
She  had  heard  of  the  dauphin  Charles,  whom  she  re- 
garded as  the  legitimate  heir  to  the  crown  of  France, 
and  whom  the  English  had  unjustly  deposed. 

She  was  a  daughter  of  the  fields,  modest,  gentle, 
brought  up  to  sew  in  the  house,  enjoying  her  church 
and  going  often  to  confession.  One  day,  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1423,  while  in  her  garden,  she  saw  a  great 
light  and  heard  a  voice  saying:  "Joan,  be  good  and 
virtuous;  go  to  church  often."  Another  time  the 
voice  said  to  her :  "Joan,  go,  deliver  the  King  of 
France  and  give  him  back  his  kingdom."  For  four 
years1  she  resisted ;  she  continued  to  hear  the  voices ; 
she  always  declared  that  they  were  the  voices  of  an 
archangel  and  of  the  two  saints  Catherine  and  Mar- 
garet. At  last  she  decided  to  obey  the  order,  to  go  and 
fulfill  her  mission.  She  was  moved  to  do  so.  as  she 
herself  said,  because  of  the  great  misery  in  the  king- 
dom of  France. 

It  is  well  known  how  she  succeeded  in  convincing 
her  uncle,  then  the  inhabitants  of  Vancouleurs,  who 

'The  story  of  Joan  of  Arc  is  well  known  to  us,  thanks  to  the 
examination  at  the  trial,  and  to  the  reports  of  the  witnesses, 
who  were  cited  to  appear,  when  the  king,  twenty  years  after 
her  death,  ordered  a  trial  to  annul  the  judgment  pronounced 
against  her. 


182  MEDLEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

persuaded  the  commandant  of  the  place  to  send  her 
with  an  escort  to  the  court  of  Charles  VII.,  how  she 
won  over  the  young  king  and  obtained  a  troop  of 
knights,  at  the  head  of  which  she  entered  besieged 
Orleans ;  how  she  raised  the  siege  and  led  Charles  VII. 
to  Rheims  to  be  crowned. 

These  unexpected  successes  gave  to  all  her  con- 
temporaries the  impression  that  Joan  of  Arc  was  sup- 
ported by  a  supernatural  power.  The  partisans  of 
Charles  VII.  believed  that  she  was  a  saint  sent  from 
God;  the  English  and  their  partisans  declared  that 
she  was  a  sorceress  sent  from  the  devil.  When  they 
had  succeeded  in  taking  her  prisoner  it  was  as  heretic 
and  sorceress  that  she  was  accused.  She  was  judged 
by  the  tribunal  of  the  Bishop  of  Beauvais,  and  ques- 
tioned by  a  great  number  of  doctors  of  theology  who 
sought  to  catch  her.  In  that  examination,  where  she 
showed  such  good  sense  and  such  gentle  firmness  even 
to  the  end,  which  made  whoever  approached  her  adore 
her,  she  was  forced  to  answer  concerning  her  senti- 
ments with  regard  to  the  English.  "God,"  said  she, 
"sent  me  to  aid  the  King  of  France."  "Do  Saint 
Catherine  and  Saint  Margaret  hate  the  English?" 
"They  love  whomsoever  our  Lord  loves,  and  hate 
those  whom  He  hates."  "Does  God  hate  the  English  ?" 
"Concerning  the  love  or  the  hatred  which  God  has  for 
the  English  I  know  nothing;  but  I  do  know  that  they 
will  be  driven  from  France,  save  those  who  will  perish 
there." 

By  the  burning  of  Joan  of  Arc  the  English  had 
hoped  to  give  the  idea  that  she  was  a  sorceress.  Her 
execution  had  the  contrary  effect.      "We  are   lost," 


ROYAL   AUTHORITY   IN    FRANCE  183 

said  the  secretary  of  the  King  of  England,  who  was 
present ;  "we  have  just  burned  a  saint." 

Some  years  afterwards  (1435)  the  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy gave  up  his  support  of  the  English,  and 
by  the  treaty  of  Arras  he  became  the  ally  of  King 
Charles  VII. 

INSTITUTIONS    OF    CHARLES    VII. 

The  Army  of  the  King — The  king,  like  all  the  other 
princes,  for  the  purpose  of  making  war  took  into  his 
service  companies  of  adventurers ;  he  gave  them  money 
(solde),  and  from  that  they  were  called  soldiers.  Each 
captain  recruited  and  commanded  his  band,  but  the 
king  sent  into  the  garrisons  commissioners  charged 
with  making  the  companies  show  themselves,  and  who 
had  orders  to  pay  the  captain  only  after  the  review. 
With  these  bands,  and  the  knights  who  had  come  as 
volunteers,  the  kings  carried  on  the  Hundred  Years' 
War.  Into  these  bands,  at  first  composed  solely  of 
gendarmes,  that  is,  men  fully  accoutred  (with  lance 
and  iron  armor),  were  gradually  introduced  men  wear- 
ing a  jacket  of  cloth  and  armed  with  bow,  cross-bow, 
or  knife.  Towards  the  end  of  the  Hundred  Years' 
War  it  was  the  custom  that  each  man  armed  as  a 
knight  should  take  with  him  three  or  four  of  these 
lightly  armed  horsemen;  the  gendarme  and  his  com- 
panions were  called  "une  lance  garnie."1  Charles 
VII.  forbade  any  one  except  the  king  to  have  these 
armed  men  in  his  pay ;  he  alone  was  to  have  soldiers. 
Then  from  among  the  bands,  at  that  time  filling  all 

1  In  Germany  this  group  was  called  Degen  (Sword).  Degen 
was  synonymous  with  Kricgsmann,  Diener. — Ed. 


184  MEDLEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

France,  he  took  1,500  lances,  which  were  organized 
into  fifteen  companies  of  100  lances  each,  and  he  sent 
them  to  garrison  the  towns  which  he  designated.  All 
the  other  adventurers  were  to  disperse ;  those  who 
continued  to  make  war  on  their  own  account  were  to 
be  hung  as  brigands. 

From  that  time  only  the  king  had  the  right  to  keep 
soldiers.  His  army  was  chiefly  composed  of  cavalry : 
the  artillery  and  the  foot-soldiers  were  united  under 
the  grand  master  of  the  cross-bowmen.  When  the 
king  had  need  of  infantry  he  took  into  his  pay  com- 
panies of  Swiss  armed  with  long  pikes,  Genoese  cross- 
bowmen,  Gascons,  and  later  bands  of  lansquenets 
(German  foot-soldiers).  For  a  century  there  were 
hardly  any  Frenchmen  except  in  the  cavalry;  almost 
all  the  foot  soldiers  were  foreigners.  The  attempts  to 
form  a  corps  of  French  francs-archers  (tax-free  arch- 
ers) did  not  succeed;  those  francs-archers  were  not 
soldiers  by  profession  and  did  not  know  how  to  drill. 
But  the  king  was  not  afraid  to  employ  foreigners ;  the 
army  paid  by  him  obeyed  him  only. 

The  Imposts. — In  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  cen- 
turies the  kings  of  France  were  at  war  or  making 
merry.  They  were  always  short  of  money.  The 
revenues  of  their  domains  no  longer  sufficed  for  their 
wants.  They  sought  to  increase  the  revenue  by  alter- 
ing the  coin  of  the  realm.  They  altered  it  so  often 
that  the  pound,  after  being  worth  sixteen  francs  in  the 
time  of  Saint  Louis,  finally  fell  to  one  franc  (while  the 
English  pound  is  still  worth  twenty-five  francs).  They 
also  acquired  the  habit  of  demanding  money  from 
their  subjects.     The  chief  personages  called  together 


ROYAL  AUTHORITY  IN  FRANCE      185 

in  assembly  granted  them  an  aid,  that  is  to  say,  the 
right  to  levy  a  tax.  In  the  northern  provinces  this  tax 
was  usually  so  much  per  pound  on  the  merchandise 
sold,  especially  on  beverages  (it  resembles  our  indirect 
tax)  ;  in  the  South  it  was  so  much  per  fire,  that  is,  per 
household1  (this  resembles  our  direct  tax).  But  the 
assembly  did  not  grant  these  taxes  except  for  a  short 
time,  two  or  three  years  at  the  most;  the  king  was 
obliged  to  continue  his  demands.  The  assembly  always 
granted  them,  but  always  accused  him  of  extravagance. 

After  the  defeat  of  King  John,  in  1356,  the  northern 
assembly  (the  Estates  of  Paris)  voted  a  tax  on  bever- 
ages, and  to  prevent  the  court  from  squandering  the 
money  an  exact  system  of  administration  was  estab- 
lished :  twelve  generals  were  charged  each  in  his 
province  with  the  apportionment  of  the  tax  and  to 
superintend  the  employment  of  the  funds.  They  had 
under  them  deputies  whom  they  had  chosen,  who  regu- 
lated the  details  of  the  operation.  The  countries  sub- 
jected to  this  rule  were  divided  into  districts  called 
generalities,  and  sub-divided  into  "elections."  Three 
years  later  the  king,  having  again  become  all  powerful, 
himself  took  possession  of  the  whole  machine,  named 
the  generals  and  the  elus  (the  elect)  and  continued  to 
levy  taxes  without  consulting  his  subjects.  The  aid  on 
beverages  was  changed  to  a  perpetual  tax,  which  the 
king  employed  for  his  own  benefit  without  consulting 
his  subjects  and  without  rendering  an  account  to  any 
one. 

At  the  close  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War,  Charles 

1  It  was  called  fouage  (tax  per  five);  it  was  changed  into  a 
tax  on  lands  similar  to  our  land-tax. 


186  MEDIAEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

VII.  demanded  of  the  Estates,  assembled  at  Orleans 
(1439),  a  tax  which  would  put  him  in  a  position  to 
pay  his  army.  Just  as  the  Estates  of  Paris  had  voted 
the  aid,  so  the  Estates  of  Orleans  voted  the  "taille," 
which  is  a  tax  to  be  levied  each  year  on  peasants  and 
on  bourgeois  in  proportion  to  their  fortune.  The 
"taille,"  like  the  aid,  became  a  perpetual  tax.  Hence- 
forth the  king  no  longer  lived  upon  the  revenues  of 
the  royal  domains,  he  lived  upon  the  two  taxes  which 
the  Estates  had  established  for  the  needs  of  the  country, 
the  aid  and  the  taille,  which  the  king  had  appropriated 
and  which  were  to  remain  the  great  sources  of  the 
royal  revenues  until  1789. 

The  Pragmatic  Sanction — During  the  time  of  the 
Great  Schism  the  bishops  of  France  and  the  University 
of  Paris  had  almost  ceased  to  obey  the  pope,  and  they 
were  accustomed  to  the  idea  that  the  church  of  France, 
the  Gallican  church,  as  it  was  called,  should  not  be  abso- 
lutely subject  to  the  court  of  Rome.  When  the  strug- 
gle began  between  the  pope  and  the  council,  assembled 
at  Basle,  the  king  and  the  bishops  profited  by  it,  in 
order  to  call  together  at  Bourges  a  general  assembly 
of  the  clergy  in  France,  for  the  purpose  of  proclaiming 
the  liberty  of  the  Gallican  church.  This  assembly  was 
composed  of  five  archbishops,  twenty-five  bishops,  and 
a  great  number  of  doctors.  It  began  by  taking  sides 
with  the  Council  of  Basle,  and  declared  that  an  oecu- 
menical council  should  be  regularly  held,  and  that  this 
council  was  superior  to  the  pope.  Then  it  decided 
that,  in  the  future,  the  bishops  should  be  chosen  by 
the  canons  of  the  cathedral,  the  abbots  by  the  monks  of 
the   convent,   according  to  the  ancient   rules   of  the 


ROYAL   AUTHORITY   IN    FRANCE  187 

church,  without  taking  into  account  the  recommenda- 
tions made  by  kings,  by  princes  or  by  any  other  powers. 
Through  this  measure  the  assembly  took  away  from 
the  pope  the  power  to  dispose  of  bishoprics  and  abbeys. 
It  also  suppressed  all  the  rights  which  the  pope 
claimed  over  the  functions  and  benefices  of  the  church  : 
the  legal  reserves,  the  expectant  favors,  the  annats, 
the  appeals  to  the  court  at  Rome.  The  pope  was  al- 
lowed a  certain  royalty  on  the  benefices;  the  council 
declared  that  it  was  only  accorded  under  the  title  of 
gratuity  and  was  to  continue  only  during  the  life  of 
the  pope  then  in  office. 

These  decisions  were  ratified  by  the  king,  who 
promulgated  them  under  the  name  of  the  Pragmatic 
Sanction  of  Bourges   (1438). 

The  clergy  had  hoped  to  render  the  bishops  inde- 
pendent both  of  pope  and  king.  But  the  pope  did  not 
recognize  the  right  of  the  bishops  of  France  to  alone 
regulate  the  affairs  of  the  church,  and  the  successor  of 
Charles  VII.,  Louis  XL,  found  it  more  advantageous 
to  have  an  understanding  with  the  pope  in  order  to 
share  the  benefices.  So  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  was 
only  carried  out  for  about  twenty  years.  But  for 
several  centuries  the  parlement  and  the  University 
of  Paris  continued  to  demand  the  maintenance  of  the 
liberties  of  the  Gallican  church. 


THE    STRUGGLES    OF    LOUIS    XL 

The  Opponents  of  Royalty — Charles  VII.  had  suc- 
ceeded in  expelling  the  English  from  France.  He  had 
even  retaken  Guyenne  from  the  King  of  England,  who 


188  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

had  been  in  possession  for  two  centuries.  His  suc- 
cessor, Louis  XL,  had  to  fight  against  other  enemies. 

Down  to  the  time  of  Charles  V.  the  kings  of  France 
had  continued  to  consider  the  royal  domain  as  the 
property  of  their  family.  When  they  had  had  several 
sons  they  had  left  the  crown  and  the  largest  part  of 
the  domains  to  the  eldest  son,  but  they  often  detached 
from  it  a  province  which  should  be  the  apanage  of  a 
younger  son.  These  sons  of  the  king  founded  in  these 
provinces  states,  which  they  transmitted  to  their  chil- 
dren, and  which  had  often  been  increased  by  marriage. 

So  France,  in  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
had  seven  families  of  royal  blood : 

The  House  of  Burgundy,  which  descended  from 
King  John. 

The  House  of  Orleans,  which  descended  from 
Charles  V. 

The  House  of  Alencon,  which  descended  from 
Philip  III. 

The  House  of  Bourbon,  which  descended  from 
Saint  Louis. 

The  House  of  Anjou,  descended  from  Louis  VIII. 

The  House  of  Brittany,  descended  from  Louis  VI. 

These  families  owned  more  than  one-half  of  the 
territory  of  the  kingdom,  where  the  Duke  of  Burgundy 
was  at  the  same  time  seignior  of  Franche-Comte  and 
of  all  the  Pays-Bas,  that  is,  of  Belgium  and  Holland. 

The  Work  of  Louis  XI — Louis  XL  was  less  rich  and 
less  powerful  than  his  vassal,  the  Duke  of  Burgundy, 
Charles  the  Bold,  and  was  really  king  in  the  royal 
domain  only,  that  is,  in  about  one-third  of  what  is  now 
called  France. 


ROYAL  AUTHORITY  IN  FRANCE      189 

His  reign  was  a  struggle  against  the  princes,  who, 
each  in  his  own  province,  had  as  much  power  as 
himself,  who  had,  like  him,  their  own  army,  court, 
bailiffs,  and  some  even  a  parlement.  His  principal 
adversary  was  Charles  the  Bold.  From  the  time  of  his 
accession  Louis  XL  had  troubled  the  princes  and  had 
caused  discontent  in  his  subjects :  among  the  clergy  in 
revoking  the  Pragmatic  Sanction;  among  the  bour- 
geoisie by  increasing  the  "taille,"  among  the  nobles 
by  forbidding  them  to  hunt,  and  among  all  classes 
by  selling  positions  of  judges  and  functionaries.  The 
princes  united  against  him  and  formed  the  "League 
for  the  Public  Good,"  declaring  that  they  wanted  to 
relieve  the  kingdom  from  the  bad  government  of  the 
king.  Louis  XL  tried  to  resist  by  means  of  arms,  but 
he  was  not  as  strong  as  the  allies ;  his  army  was  dis- 
persed, his  governors  opened  their  city  gates,  and 
Louis  was  obliged  to  yield  to  the  princes.  By  the 
treaty  of  Conflans  he  granted  them  everything  that 
they  had  demanded.  Several  times  he  tried  to  profit 
by  the  embarrassments  of  Charles  the  Bold,  in  order 
to  recommence  the  struggle;  but  he  could  not  prevent 
Charles  from  taking  and  destroying  the  towns  of 
Dinant  and  Liege. 

The  Duke  of  Burgundy  was  an  ally  of  Edward  IV., 
King  of  England,  who  invaded  France  and  withdrew 
only  for  a  recompense  in  money.  He  intended  to 
have  himself  chosen  Emperor  of  Germany;  he  had 
begun  to  acquire  a  part  of  Alsace  and  had  gone  with  a 
large  army  to  the  aid  of  the  bishop  of  Cologne. 

It  was  then  that  Louis  XI.  succeeded  in  gaining, 
probably  for  a  large  sum  of  money,  the  support  of  the 


190  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

most  influential  members  of  the  Council  of  Berne. 
The  Bernese  began  a  war  against  Charles  the  Bold, 
when  their  allies,  the  Swiss  mountaineers,  were  in- 
volved in  spite  of  themselves,  for  they  had  always  been 
the  friends  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy.  Charles  had 
the  imprudence  to  lead  into  the  Swiss  mountains  all  his 
knights,  who  were  surprised  and  massacred  in  the  two 
battles  of  Granson  and  Morat  (1476).  Then  he  re- 
turned to  besiege  Nancy  and  was  killed  in  a  skirmish. 

This  death  did  more  for  the  King  of  France  than 
all  his  policy  had  done.  Charles  left  only  a  daughter. 
Louis  XL  sent  an  army  into  the  duchy  of  Burgundy, 
which  submitted  without  much  resistance. 

Louis  XI.  also  had  the  advantage  of  inheriting  from 
the  family  of  Anjou,  which  became  extinct,  in  leaving 
to  him  Maine,  Anjou  and  Provence.  He  caused  the 
condemnation  of  the  Duke  of  Alencon,  who  had  con- 
spired against  him,  and  confiscated  his  duchy.  He  also 
caused  the  punishment  of  other  less  powerful  lords, 
the  Count  de  St.  Pol,  who  had  twice  betrayed  him; 
the  Count  d'Armagnac,  the  Count  d'Albret  and  the 
Duke  of  Nemours,  whom  he  had  shut  up  in  iron  cages. 

These  condemnations  and  the  bitterness  which  he 
showed  towards  his  victims  gave  him  a  reputation  for 
cruelty.  He  was  not  loved,  it  was  thought  that  he 
showed  the  manners  of  a  bourgeois  rather  than  those 
of  a  knight ;  in  place  of  riding  horseback  and  hunting 
like  the  other  princes  of  his  time,  he  remained  shut  up 
in  his  cabinet,  clothed  in  a  robe  and  cap  in  the  style 
of  a  magistrate. 

He  frequented  the  company  of  the  bourgeoisie  and 
lived  familiarly  with  his  domestics.    That  which  makes 


ROYAL   AUTHORITY   IN    FRANCE  191 

his  reign  one  of  the  marked  epochs  in  the  history  of 
France  is,  that  in  surviving  his  most  redoubtable  ad- 
versary he  rendered  the  king  more  powerful  than  all 
the  other  princes.  Of  the  seven  princely  families, 
three  disappeared  during  his  reign.  The  others  are 
allied  to  the  royal  family,  and  their  possessions  became 
a  part  of  the  royal  domain. 


CHAPTER   XV 
THE   END   OF   THE   MIDDLE   AGES 

THE    TRANSFORMATION    OF    CHIVALRY 

The  New  Knighthood — The  knights  of  the  feudal 
period  made  war  against  each  other.  In  the  fourteenth 
century  the  king,  having  become  powerful,  began  to 
forbid  them  to  fight.  Gradually  this  kind  of  war 
ceased.  At  the  same  time  a  great  change  took  place 
in  their  armor;  the  coat  of  mail  was  no  longer  stout 
enough,  the  arrow  of  the  crossbows  penetrated  it,  the 
knights  replaced  it  with  pieces  of  smooth  iron,  the 
cuirass,  the  armlets,  the  cuisse  or  cuissart,  the  helmet 
with  a  visor.1  This  kind  of  armor  was  used  from  the 
fourteenth  century  to  the  end  of  the  sixteenth.  The 
nobles  continued  to  lead  the  life  of  a  knight.  The 
greater  number  remained  in  the  country  at  their 
manors,  passing  the  time  in  doing  nothing  or  in  hunt- 
ing. Hunting  became  an  art  with  very  complicated 
rules;  it  was  divided  into  "venerie"  (hunting  with 
dogs),  and  "falconrie"  (hunting  with  falcons).  A 
falcon  was  let  loose  against  birds,  dogs  were  required 
for  hunting  the  stag,  fox,  or  wolf.  The  nobles  and 
the  ladies  on  horseback  followed  the  hunt.  The  poor- 
est, ordinarily  the  younger  sons  of  the  family,  served 

'This  was  called  "being  fully  accoutred." 
192 


THE   END   OF   THE   MIDDLE   AGES  193 

for  pay  the  princes  who  were  at  war,  in  order  to  seek 
their  fortunes  in  adventure.  The  richest  went  to  the 
court1  of  the  great  lords,  of  the  king,  or  of  the  Duke  of 
Burgundy,  or  of  the  Count  de  Foix.  Thus  was  formed 
a  knighthood  peculiar  to  the  court,  far  different  from 
the  feudal  chivalry.  The  ancient  knights  had  lived  the 
single  life  of  a  soldier,  devoid  of  luxury.  But  in  the 
fourteenth  century  a  more  generous  mode  of  living 
took  the  place  of  simplicity,  and  the  knight  determined 
to  enjoy  it.  In  that  idle  and  still  rather  uncultured 
society  every  one,  nobles  and  dames,  wanted,  like 
children,  to  have  the  most  brilliant  costumes  and  the 
rarest  jewels.  It  was  a  period  of  ruinous  and  extrava- 
gant fashions,  when  the  men  wore  shoes  with  a  long 
beak,  and  the  women  wore  conical  caps  a  foot  high; 
a  period  when  3,000  skins  of  squirrels  were  used  for  a 
single  mantle,  when  the  Duke  of  Orleans  used  700 
fine  pearls  for  the  embroidery  of  a  song  on  his  sleeve. 
Then,  as  in  the  German  courts  during  the  time  of 
the  Minnesingers,  there  were  rules  for  the  manners 
and  for  the  customs  of  the  court;  this  was  the  cour- 
toisie  (courteousness).  The  young  nobleman  at  the 
age  of  twelve  years  began  by  serving  as  a  page — that 
is,  a  domestic;  he  waited  on  the  ladies  at  table  and 
ran  on  errands  for  them.  When  he  had  served  his 
time  as  a  page  he  then  served  his  apprenticeship  in 
war  as  a  squire.  The  good  breeding  of  a  knight  no 
longer  consisted  in  being  able  to  fight  bravely,  but  in 
dressing  well,  in  knowing  how  to  entertain  brilliantly, 
and  how  to  speak  to  ladies  in  beautiful  language.  It 
was  good  manners  to  choose  for  oneself  a  certain 
1  Court,  as  in  Gcnnan  Ilof,  signified  simply  house. 


194  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

lady,1  to  adore  her  secretly,  and  to  wear  her  colors 
on  all  festive  occasions. 

Tournaments — Under  these  affected  forms  the  no- 
bles remained  vigorous  and  brutal,  and  required  violent 
exercise.  The  favorite  diversion  of  the  old  chivalry 
was  the  simulated  combat,  either  a  combat  between 
two  adversaries  (the  joust),  or  a  combat  between  two 
troops  (the  tournament).  The  old  tournament  dif- 
fered little  from  a  real  battle,  the  two  troops  fought  on 
the  open  field,  often  with  real  arms  (with  the  utmost 
hostility),  the  conquered  was  the  prisoner  of  the  victor 
and  had  to  redeem  himself  by  ransom,  and  there  al- 
ways remained  several  dead  upon  the  field.  In  a  tour- 
nament near  Cologne  in  1240  sixty  knights  perished 
(many  more  than  at  the  battle  of  Brimule). 

The  knights  of  the  court  made  a  regular  sport  of 
these  combats.  From  the  fourteenth  century  they 
hardly  ever  fought  with  any  other  arms  than  those  of 
courtesy,  the  wooden  lance,  without  a  point,  and  the 
blunt  sword.  In  the  joust  it  was  a  matter  of  receiving 
the  shock  of  an  adversary's  lance,  without  moving  in 
the  saddle ;  the  lance  was  broken,  from  that  the  expres- 
sion "  to  break  a  lance  "  with  some  one.  The  tourna- 
ment was  a  grand  ceremony,  regulated  in  every  detail. 
The  evening  before  the  armorial  bearings  of  the  com- 
petitors were  examined,  in  order  to  decide  whether 
they  were  worthy  of  combat,  only  knights  of  noble 

1  We  do  not  yet  know  when  or  where  gallantry  came  into 
use.  Whether  in  Provence,  among  the  Moors  in  Spain,  or  in  the 
German  courts.  In  the  "chansons  de  gestes"  of  northern 
France,  the  knights  are  not  very  gallant,  and  seem  much  less 
occupied  with  the  ladies  than  are  the  ladies  with  the  knights. 
The  word  gallant  had  not  the  meaning  of  ardent  attention  to 
a  lady  until  toward  the  seventeenth  century. 


THE   END   OF   THE   MIDDLE   AGES  195 

birth  were  admitted,  and  those  who  had  degraded 
themselves  by  marrying  a  woman  of  the  middle  class 
were  rejected.  The  combat  occurred  in  a  place  sur- 
rounded by  barriers,  a  closed  field  (the  lists).  The 
heroes  sounded  their  trumpets,  and  the  two  troops 
rushed  upon  each  other.  -  The  ladies  seated  on  the 
stage  surrounding  the  lists  encouraged  their  friends 
by  throwing  to  them  their  ribbons  and  their  handker- 
chiefs. Judges  awarded  the  prize,  and  often  a  lady 
was  charged  with  its  bestowal  on  the  victor. 

Festivals. — Other  festive  occasions  were  not  want- 
ing. Whether  a  prince  was  married,  married  off 
his  daughter,  armed  his  son  as  a  knight,  or  entered  into 
a  city,  or  whether  he  received  one  of  his  princely 
friends,  all  were  so  many  pretexts  for  a  spectacle. 
Through  all  the  streets  in  which  the  procession  was  to 
pass,  arches  of  verdure  were  erected,  tapestries  were 
hung,  platforms  were  built  on  which  figured  persons 
in  disguise;  in  the  square  were  fountains  of  wine, 
hydromel  and  rose-water. 

For  several  days  the  prince  kept  open  house,  oxen 
were  roasted  whole  in  his  kitchens.  The  banquet  lasted 
several  hours,  broken  by  spectacles  which  were  called 
the  "  entremets,"  then  came  the  balls  and  the  mas- 
querades. The  chronicles  of  the  time  are  filled  with 
stories  of  those  great  feasts.  One  of  the  most  cele- 
brated was  that  given  by  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  when 
he  made  his  "vow  to  the  pheasant"  (1454).  In  the 
hall  three  tables  were  set  up.  On  one  was  a  church 
with  bells  ringing  and  several  choristers  singing;  on 
the  second  there  were  nine  entremets  (spectacles),  of 
which  one  was  a  pie  in  which  twenty-eight  musicians 


196  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

were  playing.  During  the  festivity  an  elephant  driven 
by  a  Saracen  giant  entered  the  hall ;  on  its  back  was 
a  tower  from  which  came  forth  a  nun  clothed  in  white 
and  black  satin,  symbolizing  the  church  coming  to  the 
duke  to  demand  help  against  the  Turks.  At  the  ball 
twelve  ladies  dressed  in  crimson  satin  and  representing 
the  virtues  danced ;  the  affair  ended  with  a  grand 
tournament. 

These  feasts  1  were  not  like  those  of  our  day,  digres- 
sions in  the  daily  life;  they  formed  the  very  ground- 
work of  the  public  life.  For  three  centuries  the 
princes  were  far  more  occupied  in  amusing  themselves 
than  they  were  in  governing  their  dominions ;  the  peo- 
ple who  shared  their  amusements  apparently  believed 
that  such  was  the  office  of  princes.  But  these  feasts 
were  costly;  the  princes  who  until  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury had  lived  largely  on  their  revenues  were  hence- 
forth ever  short  of  money;  they  had  to  take  it  from 
their  subjects.  Then  began  the  exactions  and  the  fiscal 
inventions  which  lasted  until  the  end  of  the  monarchies. 

Highwaymen. — A  prince  could  not  carry  on  a  war 

of  any  length  without  the  aid  of  the  vassals  who  owed 

him  feudal  service.     At  the  end  of  forty  days  at  the 

most  the   term   of  service  expired,   and   the  knights 

returned  home.     In  order  to  retain  men  in  the  army 

it  was  necessary  to  pay  them.     Philip  Augustus  had 

already  done  it.    In  the  fourteenth  century  every  prince 

had  armed  men  in  his  pay ;  he  paid  them  in  proportion 

1  This  chivalry,  more  brilliant  than  the  old,  has  been  much 
more  attractive  to  the  poets  and  romance  writers  of  our  time. 
The  middle  age,  that  they  describe,  is  especially  an  age  of  courts, 
pages,  tournaments  and  of  knights  armed  cap-a-pie,  that  of  the 
fifteenth  and  even  the  sixteenth  century.  The  model  knight, 
Bayard,  and  the  knightly  king,  Francis  I.,  are  both  of  the  six- 
teenth century. 


THE   END   OF  THE  MIDDLE   AGES  197 

to  their  rank,  and  divided  them  into  bands,  each  under 
the  orders  of  a  chief.  When  fighting  became  constant 
the  princes  preferred  to  treat  with  the  captain,  who  was 
himself  charged  with  choosing  his  companions.  The 
captain  took  the  men  that  he  Wanted,  poor  gentlemen, 
younger  sons  of  a  family,  adventurers  from  every 
country,  nobles  or  bourgeois.  Du  Guesclin,  being  as 
yet  nothing  but  a  poor  squire,  began  his  career  by 
scouring  the  country  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  Breton 
lads.  The  company  fought  for  whoever  would  pay 
for  it,  passing  from  one  camp  to  another  in  case  of 
need,  and  often  when  the  prince  ceased  to  pay  con- 
tinued to  make  war  on  its  own  account.  Battles  were 
rare;  usually  the  company  lodged  in  a  chateau  or  in 
a  fortified  village,  went  about  the  country  besieging 
the  chateaux  of  the  enemy  and  taking  prisoners  for  the 
purpose  of  getting  a  ransom,  or  to  put  the  towns  under 
contribution  with  threats  to  burn  if  these  demands 
were  not  satisfied,  or  to  carry  off  the  cattle  and  furni- 
ture of  the  peasants.  At  this  time,  in  order  to  force 
the  peasant  to  tell  where  his  money  was  concealed,  the 
plan  was  conceived  of  hanging  him  over  the  smoke, 
shutting  him  up  in  a  chest,  twisting  a  rope  around  his 
head,  lighting  a  fire  against  the  soles  of  his  feet;  a 
practice  which  the  soldiers  of  every  country  continued 
to  use  even  down  to  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
By  this  system  war  became  a  lucrative  business,  "  And 
poor  brigands  l   succeeded  continually  in  the  pillage 

1  Froissart  I.  I.,  ch.  324.  The  word  brigand  signified,  at 
first,  a  lightly  armed  soldier;  and  it  was  precisely  at  this  time 
that  it  took  on  the  modern  meaning.  See  how  Froissart  ex- 
presses (iv.,  14)  the  sentiments  of  an  adventurer:  "There  is  no 
diversion  nor  glory  in  this  world  except  among  men  at  arms! " 


198  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

of  cities  and  chateaux,  capturing  there  such  great  pos- 
sessions that  it  was  marvellous."  Some  of  these  cap- 
tains (l'Archipritre  in  the  fourteenth  century,  Rod- 
rique  de  Villandrando  in  the  fifteenth)  retired  very 
rich  and  became  very  great  lords. 

These  men  at  arms,  half  soldier,  half  brigand,  were 
called  troopers.  They  were  designated  by  the  name  of 
their  country  or  by  that  of  the  prince  for  whom  they 
were  fighting:  Brabangons,  Navarrais,  Armagnacs. 

The  Robber-Knights  of  Germany. — The  German 
chivalry  was  also  transformed.  The  author  of  the 
"Mirror  of  Chivalry"  writes,  in  1400,  as  follows: 
"  There  are  today  three  kinds  of  knights.  Some 
have  neither  property  nor  honor,  these  are  prowlers 
along  the  highways.  Others  have  a  domain  in  fief  of 
a  noble,  but  although  their  property  may  be  unencum- 
bered they  live  only  by  theft  and  by  other  dishonest 
means.  They  are  'the  chevaliers  de  vaches.'1  They 
wear  gold  and  fine  clothes,  but  they  entertain  in  their 
castles  robbers  and  murderers  and  share  in  their  booty. 
Even  when  they  have  sent  a  challenge2  they  set  forth 
while  the  letter  is  still  on  the  wray,  and  before  the 
adversary  could  have  received  it  they  have  eaten  the 
'vache'  meat.  The  only  true  knights  are  those 
who  fight  for  their  prince  against  the  enemies  of  their 
country."  Western  Germany  was  filled  with  these 
gentlemen  who,  established  in  their  fortified  castle 
were  living  at  the  expense  of  the  merchants  and  peas- 
ants in  the  neighborhood.  They  were  called  the 
robber-knights,  although  very  many  of  them  were  not 

1  That  is  they  make  a  business  of  stealing  cows. 

2  That  is  a  declaration  of  war  in  due  form. 


THE   END   OF   THE    MIDDLE   AGES  199 

regularly  constituted  knights.  But  the  honorable 
knights  themselves  professed  to  declare  war  against 
cities  for  the  purpose  of  capturing  and  ransoming  the 
rich  bourgeois.  Gunther  de  Schwarzbourg,  who  be- 
came emperor  in  1350,  "  had  grown  rich  by  seizing 
the  barons  and  demanding  a  ransom  from  them,"  so 
says  the  chronicle  by  way  of  eulogy.  The  famous 
Goetz  of  Berlichingen  spent  his  life  in  waging  war 
against  the  city  of  Nuremberg  and  in  ransoming  her 
merchants. 

Since  the  emperor  could  no  longer  compel  obedi- 
ence the  functions  of  the  public  tribunals  had  ceased. 
In  Westphalia,  where  they  were  preserved  for  a  much 
longer  time,  the  special  judges  were  obliged  to  sit  in 
secret,  and  could  not  execute  their  sentences  except  by 
the  assassination  of  the  condemned.  Such  was  the 
tribunal  of  Sainte-Vehme.  Therefore  it  was  said  that 
there  was  no  longer  any  law  in  Germany  but  the  law  of 
the  fist  (Faustrecht). 

Cross-bowmen  and  Archers — During  the  crusades 
the  Christians  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  the 
cross-bow;  this  was  a  bow  mounted  on  a  stock  and 
stretched  by  means  of  a  spring  or  small  crank.  It 
threw  a  short  arrow  with  sufficient  force  to  pierce 
through  a  man  at  two  hundred  paces.  The  cross-bow 
was  used  in  the  chateaux  and  castles  for  defence 
against  attack,  and  there  were  formed,  especially  in 
Italy,  bands  of  cross-bowmen  by  profession  who  put 
themselves  in  the  service  of  the  princes.  The  most 
renowned  were  the  Genoese  cross-bowmen. 

The  bow  which  has  never  entirely  ceased  to  be  used 
was  not,  for  a  long  time,  considered  very  formidable. 


200  MEDLEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

But  in  the  fourteenth  century  there  appeared  in  the 
army  of  the  King  of  England  regular  troops  of 
archers  with  large  bows  of  yew,  two  metres  high,  which 
could  shoot  six  times  a  minute  and  kill  a  man  at 
two  hundred  metres  distance ;  the  most  famous  archers 
were  from  Wales. 

Cross-bowmen  and  archers  fought  on  foot  and 
without  iron  armor.  None  of  them  were  noble,  the 
larger  number  were  adventurers,  mercenaries  (like 
the  Genoese)  ;  the  English  archers  were  peasants, 
farmers  or  small  land-owners.  The  king  had  ordered 
them  to  practice  archery  and  summoned  them  to 
fight.1 

Swiss  and  Lansquenets — The  peasants  in  the  moun- 
tains around  Lake  Lucerne,  especially  those  of  the 
Canton  Schwitz,  were  in  the  last  years  of  the  thir- 
teenth century,  well  known  for  their  agility  and  vigor. 
They  became  celebrated  in  the  fourteenth  century 
when  they  had  several  times  surprised  and  massa- 
cred the  Austrian  knights  who  had  come  to  subjugate 
them;  the  name  of  Swiss  was  then  given  to  all  their 
allies.  At  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century  the  Swiss 
confederates  carried  a  pike  much  longer  than  the  lance 
of  the  knights ;  they  fought  on  foot,  in  closed  column, 
rushing  upon  the  enemy  with  their  lances  six  metres 
in  length  without  breaking  their  ranks.  After  their 
victories  over  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  they  passed  for 
the  best  troops  in  Europe,  and  all  the  princes  wanted 
to  have  them  in  their  pay. 


JThe  King  of  France  tried  to  organize  a  similar  corps  but  the 
francs-archers  (tax-free  archers)  created  in  1445  remained  a  very 
mediocre  troop,  which  had  to  be  given  up. 


THE   END   OF   THE   MIDDLE   AGES  201 

About  the  same  time  the  lansquenets  (landsknecht,1 
a  country  knave)  began  to  be  spoken  of  in  Germany. 
They  too  carried  the  long  pike  which  defended  them 
better  than  an  armor.  They  were  united  in  bands, 
chose  a  captain  and  swore  obedience  to  him.  Each 
band  took  along  with  it  women,  children  and  carts  to 
transport  the  baggage  and  booty;  it  had  its  own  flag, 
and  formed  a  small  society.  When  the  lansquenet  com- 
mitted a  crime  it  was  the  band  which  sat  in  judgment; 
and  if  he  was  condemned  it  executed  him  by  making 
him  pass  between  the  rows  of  pikes.  When  the  lans- 
quenet wanted  to  be  married  he  led  his  wife  into  the 
"  circle  of  his  companions."  It  was  the  band  assem- 
bled around  the  flag  which  decided  what  prince  they 
should  serve. 

For  the  adventurers,  Swiss  or  lansquenets,  war  was 
a  profession;  they  would  not  fight  except  for  money; 
"  Xo  money,  no  Swiss."  But  they  fought  -well,  and 
earned  their  wages  faithfully.  Often  the  prince  made 
them  wait  some  years  for  their  pay  and  did  not  even 
support  them.  At  such  times  the  band  lived  by  pillag- 
ing the  country. 

Weakness  of  Chivalry — During  the  early  centuries 
of  the  Middle  Ages  there  were  no  soldiers  but  the 
knights.2  Then  the  cities  sent  their  armed  citizens  to 
war.  They  fought  on  foot  and  were  called  sergeants. 
These  artisans,  badly  drilled  and  disciplined,  equipped 
each  in  his  own  fashion,  were  nothing  but  a  militia. 
The  soldiers  by  profession  were  always  knights,  and 


1  There  were  some  already  in  the  thirteenth  century,  but  they 
did  not  become  formidable  until  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
3  Chevalier  is  translated  in  Latin  by  miles  (soldier). 


202  MEDLEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

it  was  not  admitted  that  a  man-at-arms  could  fight  in 
any  other  way  but  on  horseback.  The  cavalry  alone 
really  formed  the  army. 

However,  from  the  fourteenth  century,  every  time 
that  these  knights  came  in  collision  with  the  foot- 
soldiers,  who  were  regularly  organized,  it  was  the 
knights  who  were  beaten ;  beaten  by  the  English  arch- 
ers (even  by  inferior  numbers)  at  Crecy,  at  Poitiers 
and  at  Agincourt ;  beaten  by  the  Swiss  at  Morgarten, 
Sempach,  Granson,  Moret;  beaten  by  the  janizaries 
at  Nicopolis  and  Varna;  beaten  by  the  bourgeois  of 
Ghent  and  Bruges.  We  are  ready  to  believe  that 
the  knights  gave  way  only  before  bullets  and  balls. 
But  two  centuries  before  artillery  had  become  for- 
midable the  English  with  the  bow,  the  janizaries  with 
the  yataghan,  and  the  Swiss  with  the  pike,  were  quite 
sufficient  to  conquer  the  knights.  The  men  of  that  time 
could  not  comprehend  how  the  foot-soldiers  could  be 
triumphant  over  that  brilliant  corps  of  knights  formed 
of  the  most  noble,  the  most  courageous  and  the  most 
experienced  men.  However,  nothing  is  more  easy  of 
explanation. 

The  knights  taken  separately  were  very  brave  sol- 
diers, but  they  made  a  detestable  army.  In  covering 
themselves  with  an  armor  that  was  strong  enough  to 
save  them  from  the  risk  of  being  killed,  each  one  had 
thought  only  of  protecting  himself.  The  armor  did 
indeed  prevent  them  from  being  killed,  but  it  did  not 
prevent  them  from  being  dismounted,  and  in  a  battle  a 
man  on  the  ground  under  his  horse  was  little  better 
than  a  dead  man.  The  knights  were  equipped  as  if  they 
were  to  fight  alone ;  that  is  precisely  the  reason  why 


THE  END  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES     203 

they  manoeuvred  so  poorly  when  all  together.  Each 
was  in  the  way  of  his  neighbor.  These  heavy  masses 
required  a  level  and  firm  ground  for  their  manoeuvres 
to  take  a  start;  a  ditch,  a  hill,  a  marsh  stopped  them, 
and  the  moment  they  were  crowded  together  they  could 
neither  advance  nor  retreat.  In  order  to  operate  in 
common,  discipline  also  failed  them.  Accustomed  to 
fight  in  small  bands,  they  did  not  know  how  to  organize 
themselves  into  an  army.  Every  seignior  coming  with 
his  knights  intended  to  fight  according  to  his  fancy. 
The  general  could  not  command  obedience.  At  Crecy 
the  archers  in  the  service  of  the  King  of  France  were  at 
the  head  of  the  army,  the  knights  eager  for  the  fray 
rushed  upon  and  massacred  them,  "  Now  come,  kill 
those  ribald  fellows  who  bar  our  way."  Already  so 
weak  through  their  unmanageable  equipment  and 
lack  of  discipline,  the  knights  staked  their  honor  in 
operating  in  a  most  disadvantageous  fashion.  Having 
played  at  war  in  their  tournaments  they  had  become 
accustomed  to  the  rules  of  the  game,  and  continued 
to  observe  them  in  war.  A  battle  was  an  opportunity 
for  giving  some  fine  blows  with  the  lance,  and  they 
insisted  on  giving  them  according  to  the  rules  in  fight- 
ing, as  if  in  the  closed  field  against  an  enemy,  who  had 
been  warned  and  was  at  least  equal  in  numbers.  In 
1346  the  King  of  England,  finding  himself  at  Poissy, 
deprived  of  supplies  and  on  the  point  of  being  taken, 
Philip  IV.  drew  himself  out  of  this  embarrassing  situ- 
ation by  sending  in  a  cartel  in  due  form,  proposing 
that  he  should  choose  a  day  and  a  place  for  the  battle ; 
Edward  profited  by  this  opportunity  and  decamped. 
The  Knights  of  the  Star  had  sworn  never  to  retreat 


204  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

more  than  four  arpents  (this  was  the  space  needed  for 
room  to  move).  Gui  de  Nesle,  surprised  with  his  hun- 
dred knights,  allowed  his  whole  troop  to  be  massacred 
rather  than  to  retreat.  Thus  the  bravery  of  the  knights 
was  turned  against  them.  They  had  forgotten  that 
war  is  a  business,  not  a  game,  and  that  bravery  is  only 
a  factor,  for  the  purpose  is  to  conquer. 


THE  CHURCH  AT  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE 
MIDDLE  AGES 

The  Popes  at  Avignon — Philip  the  Fair  had  suc- 
ceeded in  having  the  choice  of  a  people  fall  upon  a 
Frenchman,  Clement  V.,  who  came  and  settled  at 
Avignon  (1309).  During  the  seventy  years  that  the 
popes  resided  at  Avignon  the  cardinals  hardly  elected 
any  but  Frenchmen  for  popes,  and  usually  men  from 
the  south  of  France,  who  were  disposed  to  do  what- 
ever the  King  of  France  commanded  them.  This  is 
what  the  Italians  called  the  ''Babylonian  Captivity." 

The  Great  Schism. — Gregory  XI.  returned  to  Rome 
(1377),  and  at  his  death  (1378)  the  cardinals  chose 
an  Italian  pope,  Urban  VI.  But  some  months  later 
the  greater  number  of  them  fled  from  Rome,  de- 
claring that  the  Roman  people  had  compelled  them 
to  do  so. 

They  elected  another  pope,  Clement  VII.,  who  re- 
turned to  Avignon  and  put  himself  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  King  of  France.  The  Christian  peoples 
were  divided;  France  and  the  kingdoms  of  Spain  and 
Scotland  recognized  the  pope  of  Avignon ;  Italy,  Ger- 


THE   END   OF  THE   MIDDLE   AGES  205 

many  and  England  recognized  the  pope  of  Rome. 
There  was  no  difference  in  doctrine  or  in  worship 
between  the  two  parties,  but  each  of  the  two  popes 
considering  himself  the  only  legitimate  ruler,  had  ex- 
communicated the  other  pope  and  his  partisans.  This 
was  the  Great  Schism ;  it  lasted  more  than  thirty  years ; 
for  the  first  time  Christianity  in  the  Occident  was 
divided. 

Complaints  Against  the  Court  of  the  Pope From  the 

fourteenth  century,  the  popes,  like  all  the  other  princes 
of  the  time,  kept  up  a  costly  establishment;  like  the 
others  they  had  to  invent  means  of  procuring  money, 
especially  since  their  revenues  from  Rome  did  not 
come  in.  Through  their  pontifical  power  they  had  at 
their  disposal  the  clergy  and  their  enormous  wealth. 

Almost  all  the  ecclesiastics,  bishops,  abbots,  canons, 
even  the  curates,  had  the  enjoyment  of  a  domain  at- 
tached to  their  office;  they  had  both  the  office  (that  is 
to  say,  the  duty  of  fulfilling  the  function)  and  the 
benefice  (that  is  to  say  the  pecuniary  advantages). 
But  some,  the  secular  clergy  (bishops  and  curates) 
had  "  charge  of  souls  " ;  the  others,  the  regular  clergy 
(abbots  and  canons)  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  enjoy 
their  benefices.  The  pope  reserved  for  himself  the 
right  of  distributing  to  whom  he  wished  a  certain  num- 
ber of  these  benefices  "without  the  charge  of  souls." 
Sometimes  the  pope  happened  to  distribute  all  of  them, 
even  those  that  had  charge  of  souls ;  this  was  the 
"  reserve."  When  the  benefice  was  still  occupied  the 
pope  promised,  while  looking  forward,  to  give  it  away 
on  the  death  of  the  incumbent.  These  were  the  "  ex- 
pectant favors." 


206  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

From  the  ecclesiastics  whom  he  named  he  exacted 
all  the  revenues  that  their  benefice  would  bring  to 
them  for  the  first  year;  this  was  the  annats.  Re- 
serves, expectant  favors  and  annats  were  just  so 
many  sources  of  revenue  for  the  court  of  Rome.  The 
ecclesiastics  who  formed  it  had  the  reserved  benefices 
given  to  themselves  or  when  they  gave  them  to  others 
they  required  pay  for  the  same. 

The  rule  of  the  church  obliged  every  ecclesiastic  to 
reside  in  the  place  where  he  had  his  office,  the  bishop 
in  his  bishopric,  the  abbot  in  his  abbey,  the  canon 
in  his  chapter-house;  it  was  forbidden  that  the  same 
ecclesiastic  should  exercise  several  functions  at  the 
same  time.  But  the  pope  could  give  dispensation  from 
all  rules.  By  means  of  these  dispensations  he  per- 
mitted plurality  of  offices,  and  pardoned  the  incumbent. 
Then  were  seen  bishops  with  several  bishoprics,  abbots 
with  several  abbeys,  bishops  who  were  not  acquainted 
with  their  dioceses  and  abbots  who  had  never  seen 
their  abbeys. 

This  system  begun  at  Avignon  and  continued  at 
Rome,  aroused  violent  complaints.  The  courts  of  the 
two  popes  were  accused  of  monopolizing  and  selling 
the  dignities  of  the  church.  These  complaints  were 
not  all  disinterested;  the  princes  were  displeased  be- 
cause the  pope  prevented  them  from  themselves  con- 
ferring the  benefices,  the  ecclesiastics  of  each  country 
were  displeased  because  the  benefices  were  given  to 
the  Italians,  and  that  they  were  heaped  upon  a  single 
head  instead  of  being  divided. 

Heresies. — Almost  everywhere  a  separation  from 
the  pope  was  demanded  without  being  really  desired. 


THE   END   OF  THE   MIDDLE   AGES  207 

At  the  two  ends  of  the  Christian  world,  in  England 
and  in  Bohemia,  two  men  arose  against  the  court  of 
Rome.  They  were  two  professors,  Wycliffe  at  the 
University  of  Oxford,  Huss  at  the  University  of 
Prague;  both  protested  in  the  name  of  the  nations 
against  the  domination  of  the  Italians;  both  braved 
excommunication  and  were  declared  heretics.  Wy- 
cliffe said  that  the  temporal  power — that  is,  the  state, 
alone  has  the  right  to  pronounce  temporal  punishment ; 
that  the  members  of  the  clergy  should  be  judged  by 
the  tribunals  of  the  state.1  He  called  the  pope  Anti- 
Christ,  saying  that  truth  is  only  found  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  he  translated  the  Bible  into  English;  he 
proposed  to  suppress  the  monks,  and  to  confiscate  the 
property  of  the  clergy.  He  had  partisans  and  even 
missionaries  (the  poor  priests)  throughout  England. 
But  the  king,  Richard  II.,  who  would  have  sustained 
him,  was  overthrown,  and  Henry  IV.  then  coming  to 
the  throne  was  allied  to  the  clergy,  and  had  the  here- 
tics arrested  and  burned. 

John  Huss  took  up  the  opinions  of  Wycliffe  and 
caused  their  adoption  by  a  party  of  doctors  at  Prague. 
All  the  people  of  Bohemia  supported  him,  for  in  the 
religious  quarrel  was  mingled  a  quarrel  of  races.  The 
Czechs,  inhabitants  of  Bohemia,  who  were  Slavs, 
would  no  longer  endure  that  the  best  places  in  the 
government,  the  church  and  in  the  university  should 
be  given  to  the  Germans.  They  desired  to  be  freed 
at  once  from  the  Germans  and  from  the  pope  and  to 
form  a  Bohemian  church  and  nation.  When  John 
Huss  had  been  burned  by  the  Council  of  Constance 
1  lie  had  also  peculiar  doctrines  on  the  communion. 


208  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

the  Czechs  made  a  saint  l  of  him,  revolted  and  drove 
the  Germans  from  the  country.  The  Hussites,  as  they 
were  called,  demanded  only  a  slight  change  of  form 
in  the  matter  of  religion.  According  to  the  ancient 
usage  of  the  church  the  priest  had  the  laity  commune 
by  giving  them  bread  under  the  form  of  the  host, 
and  the  wine  in  a  chalice;  after  the  twelfth  century, 
in  order  to  avoid  that  one  drop  of  the  blood  of  Christ 
should  fall  and  be  profaned  they  adopted  the  custom 
of  giving  the  host  without  th*1.  chalice  to  the  laity,  this 
was  called  to  commune  in  one  kind  (form).  The 
Hussites  wanted  to  receive  the  host  and  the  chalice, 
to  commune  in  both  kinds.  The  council  refused  and 
declared  them  heretics.  Three  crusades  were  preached 
against  them;  the  Hussites,  armed  with  scythes  and 
iron  clubs  and  intrenched  behind  their  wagons,  beat 
off  the  crusading  knights  and  invaded  Germany,  pil- 
laging the  towns  and  killing  the  priests.  After  a  war 
of  thirty  years  the  church  was  resigned  to  permit  the 
Hussites  to  commune  in  both  kinds.  For  the  first  time 
a  sect  beside  the  church  was  formed.  • 

The  Reform  Councils — From  the  end  of  the  four- 
teenth century  all  the  zealous  Christians,  the  clergy, 
the  doctors  and  the  princes  were  demanding  a  general 
council  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  schism,  to  condemn 
heresy  and  to  "  reform  the  church  in  its  head  and  in 
its  members,"  that  is  to  say,  to  oblige  the  clergy  to 
change   its   manners,    and   the  court   of  the   pope   to 

1  His  fete  was  celebrated  July  6th,  the  anniversary  of  his 
death,  and  they  venerated  him  everywhere  under  the  name  of 
Saint  John.  When  the  Catholic  religion  was  re-established  in 
Bohemia  in  the  seventeenth  century,  the  Jesuits  replaced  him 
by  Saint  John  Neponink,  an  obscure  ecclesiastic  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  who  has  thus  become  the  national  saint  of 
Bohemia. 


THE   END   OF   THE   MIDDLE   AGES  209 

cease  the  sale  of  benefices.  They  complained  that  the 
bishops,  priests  and  monks,  even  the  mendicant  monks, 
had  become  rich,  ignorant  and  idle;  they  began  to 
say,  "  fat  as  a  canon,"  "  lazy  as  a  monk."  In  twenty 
years  these  general  councils  were  held.  Not  only 
bishops  and  prelates  came,  as  in  the  ancient  councils, 
but  many  doctors  of  theology;  and  they  ruled  the 
assemblies.  The  Council  of  Pisa  could  not  be  satisfied 
with  two  rival  popes  and  elected  a  third,  which  in- 
creased the  confusion.  The  Council  of  Constance 
deposed  the  three  popes  or  made  them  abdicate,  and 
put  an  end  to  the  schism  by  choosing  a  new  pope 
whom  all  Christians  recognized.  It  condemned  the 
heretics  Wycliffe  and  John  Huss,  and  ordered  their 
writings  to  be  burned.  Huss  was  burned  alive;  Wy- 
cliffe had  died  in  1384,  his  bones  were  disinterred  and 
burned.  The  council  did  not  wish  that  the  pope  should 
govern  the  church  alone,  it  proclaimed  the  principle 
that  every  general  council,  assembled  under  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Holy  Spirit,  holds  its  power  directly  from 
Christ,  that  it  is  superior  to  the  pope  and  cannot  be 
dissolved  by  him.  The  council  wanted  to  make  a  gen- 
eral reform  of  the  church,  but  as  it  had  begun  by 
electing  the  pope,  the  pope  dismissed  it  without  allow- 
ing it  to  reform  anything. 

The  Council  of  Basle,  summoned  in  143 1  in  spite 
of  the  pope,  proclaimed  the  same  principles,  and  forced 
the  pope  to  recognize  them,  but  it  was  gradually  dis- 
solved and  the  reform  did  not  take  place.  The  decrees 
of  these  councils,  adopted  by  the  universities  and  the 
kings  of  France,  remained  the  law  of  the  French 
church  down  to  the  eighteenth  century. 


210  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

Fall  of  the  Byzantine  Empire — The  Turks  had  con- 
quered piece  by  piece  the  whole  of  the  Byzantine 
Empire.  Constantinople,  which  alone  remained,  was 
taken  in  1453  and  became  a  Turkish  city. 

So  ended  the  Roman  Empire  in  the  East.  This 
event  touched  keenly  the  minds  of  the  European 
Christians,  even  the  pope  preached  a  crusade  against 
the  Turks,  but  did  not  succeed  in  organizing  it.  As  for 
the  consequences  which  the  taking  of  Constantinople 
had  for  the  whole  of  Europe,  the  following  have  been 
noted : 

1.  The  learned  men  fled  from  Constantinople  to 
the  great  cities  of  Italy,  especially  to  Florence,  where 
they  brought  Greek  manuscripts  and  a  taste  for  Greek 
learning. 

2.  The  Venetians  and  the  Genoese,  who  had  colonies 
throughout  the  Levant,  were  driven  away  by  the 
Turks.  Venice  lost  its  possessions  one  by  one.  The 
commerce  carried  on  between  Italy  and  the  Levant 
ceased,  the  great  merchant  republics  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  Venice  and  Genoa,  were  impoverished,  and  it 
was  necessary  to  find  another  route  for  commerce. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

ESTABLISHMENT    OF    ABSOLUTE    POWER  IN 
EUROPE 

RISE   OF    CENTRALIZATION 

Centralization — In  the  Middle  Ages  every  large 
proprietor  lived  like  a  sovereign  on  his  domains,  every 
constituted  city  governed  itself  like  a  republic.  Each 
country  was  divided  into  several  thousand  petty,  inde- 
pendent powers,  lords  or  town  corporations,  who 
negotiated  with  each  other  as  if  they  were  foreign 
nations.  The  inhabitant  of  a  town  or  seigniory  was 
considered  a  foreigner  in  the  neighboring  town  or 
seigniory;  to  have  the  right  of  even  taking  there  his 
merchandise  he  was  obliged  to  have  a  special  permis- 
sion. The  towns  and  the  lords  of  France  and  Ger- 
many concluded  among  themselves  treaties  of  peace 
or  commerce  as  the  great  powers  of  Europe  do  today. 
Each  seigniory,  each  town,  had  its  tribunal,  its  treas- 
ury, its  army,  its  customs,  its  complete  government; 
but  this  government  was  not  exercised  except  within 
the  seigniory  or  the  town.  Consequently  there  was 
no  common  government  for  the  whole  country  (except 
England,  united  under  one  king,  and  several  kingdoms 
in  Spain),  no  nation,  not  even  a  state.1 

'This  is  called  "feudal  anarchy."  This  word  is  not  appro- 
priate; anarchy  signifies  absence  of  all  government;  the  anarchy 
of  the  Middle  Ages  was  only  the  absence  of  a  general  govern- 
ment; it  resembles  the  organization  of  the  Greeks,  who  lived 
separate  in  the  small  cities. 

211 


212  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

This  system  pleased  neither  the  churchmen,  who  al- 
ways desired  unity,  nor  the  lawyers,  who  had  studied 
the  Roman  law ;  it  seemed  to  them  impious  and  unreas- 
onable. On  the  contrary,  the  knights  and  bourgeoisie, 
who  knew  little  of  any  regulation  but  that  of  the  cus- 
tom, were  determined  to  preserve  the  organization 
to  which  they  were  accustomed.  But  in  almost  all 
countries  there  was  found  a  seignior  more  powerful 
than  the  others,  whether  it  was  a  king,  as  in  France, 
or  a  prince  like  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  the  Duke  of 
Bavaria,  or  the  Duke  of  Savoy.  This  prince  had  do- 
mains which  belonged  to  him  in  his  own  right.  He 
had  servitors  of  every  kind,  men  at  arms,  councillors, 
judges,  collectors  of  rents,  intendants  to  govern  the 
subjects  of  his  domain;  they  were  called  the  officers 
of  the  prince.  He  sought  to  increase  his  domains,  rev- 
enues, power  and  the  number  of  his  subjects;  his 
officers  were  interested  in  having  a  powerful  king,  and 
they  labored  to  increase  that  power. 

The  prince  could  increase  his  power  either  directly 
through  the  acquirement  of  new  domains,  or  indirectly 
by  obliging  the  towns  and  the  seigniors  of  his  province 
to  recognize  his  authority,  that  is,  to  let  themselves 
be  tried  before  his  judges,  to  furnish  him  with  money 
and  to  use  his  coinage. 

The  princes  continued  to  practice  the  family  policy, 
marrying  their  sons  to  heiresses  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
unite  two  houses  in  one  single  domain.  So  that  the 
Low  Countries,  which  had  at  first  formed  seventeen 
domains,  were  united  about  the  end  of  the  fourteenth 
century  into  one  single  domain,  together  with  Bur- 
gundy and  Franche-Comte. 


ABSOLUTE   POWER   IN    EUROPE  213 

For  a  long  time  domains  were  broken  up,  just  as 
they  were  made,  by  the  application  of  the  same  family 
policy:  the  prince  at  his  death  divided  them  among 
his  children;  John  the  Good,  for  example,  had  given 
Burgundy  to  his  younger  son.  Finally  in  the  four- 
teenth century  the  greater  number  of  princes,  desirous 
of  maintaining  the  power  of  their  house,  gave  up 
making  sovereign  princes  of  their  younger  sons,  and 
adopted  the  rule  that  the  domain  should  no  longer  be 
divided,  but  should  pass  intact  to  the  eldest  son. 
Charles  V.  established  in  France  the  principle  that  "  the 
royal  domain  is  inalienable."  Thus  they  succeeded  in 
creating  in  each  country  a  unique  centre,  that  is,  a 
power  which  all  the  inhabitants  obeyed,  and  in  the 
country  there  was  but  one  sovereign  and  one  army 
to  suppress  wars  in  the  interior  of  the  country  and  to 
make  treaties  with  other  powers.  This  is  what  we  call 
centralization. 

Centralization  began  in  the  fourteenth  century;  it 
then  consisted  of  the  union  of  the  provinces  into  a 
single  state,  where  the  prince  became  the  sole  sover- 
eign. In  Germany  and  in  Italy  the  concentration  went 
no  farther;  these  two  countries  remained  divided  into 
principalities,  they  did  not  form  a  nation.  Elsewhere, 
on  the  contrary,  a  single  king  gathered  the  whole  coun- 
try into  a  single  kingdom ;  the  King  of  France  by 
incorporating  all  the  provinces  of  the  kingdom  in  his 
domain,  the  King  of  Aragon  by  marrying  the  Queen  of 
Castile,  which  made  him  "king  of  all  Spain."  France 
and  Spain  each  formed  a  single  nation.  In  England 
centralization  went  back  as  far  as  the  establishment 
of  the  Norman  dukes. 


214  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

The  Justice  of  the  King — In  the  Middle  Ages  each 
seignior  (and  in  many  provinces  each  knight)  had  the 
right  of  judging  and  condemning  to  death  the  people 
of  his  domains ;  this  was  called  high  and  low  jurisdic- 
tion. In  order  to  exercise  this  right  he  had  his  bailiffs 
(lieutenants)  and  his  provosts  (intendants),  just  as 
the  king  had  on  his  estates.  According  as  the  king 
became  more  powerful  his  judges  sought  to  subject 
or  supplant  the  judges  of  the  seigniors.  They  pre- 
tended that  they  alone  had  the  right  to  sit  in  judgment 
on  the  affairs  in  which  the  king  was  concerned.1  They 
established  the  rule  that  every  decision  rendered  by 
the  tribunal  of  a  seignior  losing  it  could  be  appealed 
to  the  tribunal  of  the  king.  (This  they  named  the 
resort. ) 

From  the  fourteenth  to  the  sixteenth  centuries  the 
gentlemen  of  the  long  robe  (judges  and  lawyers)  be- 
came a  large  and  powerful  class.  The  official  bailiff, 
who  was  a  knight,  ceased  to  judge ;  he  was  replaced  by 
a  lieutenant  of  the  long  robe,  that  is,  a  lawyer  (later 
there  were  two  lieutenants,  the  civil  and  the  criminal, 
for  each  bailiwick).  The  lieutenant  took  with  him  sev- 
eral advocates  belonging  to  his  tribunal,  who  acted  as 
counsellors  and  assisted  in  rendering  the  decisions; 
in  the  sixteenth  century  these  counsellors  became  real 
judges.  In  each  tribunal  the  king  had  his  prosecutor, 
that  is,  his  representative  who  conducted  the  suit  in 
which  he  had  an  interest;  for  it  was  admitted  that  all 
criminal  suits  were  of  interest  for  the  king,  because  if 

1  The  discontented  lords  having  asked  Louis  X.  to  clearly 
define  the  "cas  royaux,"  the  king  replied:  "Cas  royaux"  are 
those  which  must  appertain  to  the  sovereign  prince  and  to  none 
other. 


ABSOLUTE  POWER   IN   EUROPE  215 

the  accused  were  condemned  the  king  would  confiscate 
his  fortune  for  his  own  use;  the  result  was  that  the 
royal  prosecutor  found  himself  charged  with  following 
up  crimes  and  bringing  about  the  condemnation  of  the 
accused. 

In  order  to  write  down  the  decisions  the  tribunal 
had  clerks  (keepers  of  records)  ;  to  act  as  police  in  the 
hall,  tipstaffs;  to  carry  the  summons  and  writs,  ser- 
geants; to  draw  up  and  preserve  the  civil  actions, 
notaries.  Private  parties  who  had  suits  employed 
advocates  to  speak  for  them ;  to  conduct  the  suits  they 
had  recourse  to  the  prosecuting  attorneys,  and  the 
regulation  was  established  under  which  we  still  live 
that  no  one  could  sue  except  through  the  intermediary 
of  an  attorney. 

All  this  world  of  lawyers  (lieutenants,  counsellors, 
prosecutors  of  the  crown,  clerks,  notaries,  advo- 
cates) developed  with  the  royal  power,  and  labored 
for  the  king  against  the  seigniors  and  against  the 
communes. 

The  New  Procedure. — The  tribunals  of  the  Middle 
Ages  observed  many  rules  which  came  from  the  ancient 
Germans.  I.  The  judge  had  no  right  to  condemn  a 
man  if  no  one  appeared  against  him.  This  rule  came 
from  the  very  ancient  idea  that  a  crime  is  a  personal 
affair  which  does  not  concern  the  state,  but  only  the 
victim  or  his  relatives ;  the  state  intervenes  only  when 
some  one  lodges  a  complaint,  in  order  to  prevent  the 
offended  party  from  avenging  a  crime  by  the  commis- 
sion of  another  crime,  which  would  trouble  the  social 
order.  2.  The  judges  were  to  leave  the  accused  free 
to  present  his  defense,  they  were  to  hear  him  and  to 


216  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

judge  him  publicly,  they  could  condemn  him  only  if 
he  confessed,  or  if  two  witnesses  swore  that  they  had 
seen  him  commit  the  crime.  3.  The  trial  was  com- 
posed of  a  series  of  words  and  symbolic  actions ;  noth- 
ing was  written.  Such  was  the  old  Germanic  pro- 
cedure ;  oral,  public  and  favorable  to  the  accused. 

The  judges  in  the  church  had  never  ceased  to  apply 
the  Roman  method  of  procedure;  on  the  contrary, 
in  the  lay  tribunals  were  the  knights  and  the  bourgeois 
who  judged  themselves,  and  they  followed  the  customs. 
But  as  the  tribunals  became  filled  with  judges  by  pro- 
fession who  had  studied  the  Roman  law,  they  began 
to  employ  the  Roman  methods.  The  procedure  was 
written,  was  more  systematized  and  more  convenient 
for  the  one  who  acted  as  judge.  It  began  to  be  said 
that  the  judge  could  not  let  crimes  go  unpunished; 
if  no  accuser  appeared  it  was  sufficient  that  some  one 
should  come  and  lodge  information  of  the  crime;  so 
the  judge,  without  waiting  for  an  accusation,  took 
official  action,  as  they  said,  that  is,  fulfilled  his  duty 
as  judge.  He  ordered  the  arrest  of  the  man  whom  he 
suspected,  then  he  sought  to  assure  himself  whether 
it  was  he  who  had  committed  the  crime ;  he  employed 
every  means  that  he  thought  proper  for  throwing 
light  upon  it,  inquests  concerning  the  premises,  deposi- 
tions, presumptive  evidence,  without  being  bound  by 
any  formality.  But  it  was  not  sufficient  that  the 
judge  alone  should  be  convinced  personally  that  the 
suspect  was  the  true  culprit;  the  custom  did  not  per- 
mit condemnation  until  two  witnesses  had  sworn  that 
they  were  present  at  the  commission  of  the  crime  or 
until  the  accused  had  himself  confessed.     As  it  was 


ABSOLUTE   POWER   IN   EUROPE  217 

rare  to  find  two  witnesses,  the  judge,  in  order  to 
condemn  had  no  other  resource  than  to  oblige  the  cul- 
prit to  confess.  For  this  purpose  they  began  in  the 
thirteenth  century  to  employ  a  process  very  much  used 
in  ancient  times  and  quite  conformable  with  the  gross 
manners  of  the  time,  the  "question,"  which  consisted 
in  tormenting  the  accused  until  he  decided  to  confess. 
All  the  tribunals  of  Europe  adopted  it,  and  it  remained 
in  universal  use  until  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
It  was  exercised  in  a  different  manner,  according  to  the 
country.  In  Paris  and  throughout  most  of  France  the 
culprit  was  laid  on  a  bench,  and  water  was  poured 
through  a  funnel  into  his  mouth,  this  was  the  torture 
by  water.  In  Germany  the  strappado  was  preferred; 
the  victim  with  bound  hands,  and  having  an  enormous 
weight  which  held  the  body  tense,  attached  to  his 
feet,  was  lifted  in  the  air  by  means  of  a  cord  worked 
by  a  pulley,  then  he  was  let  fall  suddenly  with  a  shock 
which  dislocated  his  joints.  In  Spain  the  "boot"  was 
used;  the  legs  of  the  victim  were  placed  between  two 
planks,  then  wedges  were  hammered  in  between  the 
planks  and  the  legs  until  the  bones  were  broken.  Else- 
where the  thumbs  were  squeezed  in  a  vice  until  the 
blood  gushed  from  the  nails.  The  instruments  of  tor- 
ture varied  a  great  deal,  but  the  principle  was  every- 
where the  same.  When  the  accused  refused  to 
acknowledge  himself  guilty,  the  judge  ordered  the  tor- 
ture applied.  If  he  persisted  in  his  refusal  they  con- 
tinued to  pour  in  water,  to  turn  the  cord  to  drive  in 
the  wedges  or  to  draw  the  vice  tighter,  until  he  con- 
fessed or  fainted  away  from  the  pain.  Then  they  car- 
ried him  back  to  prison,  and  as  an  avowal  during  tor- 


218  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

ture  was  not  sufficient  to  show  guilt,  they  asked  the 
accused  to  repeat  his  avowal  outside  of  the  torture 
chamber.  If  he  retracted,  or  if  at  the  first  sitting  he  had 
refused  to  confess  he  was  again  put  to  torture,  until 
he  decided  not  to  retract,  that  is,  to  let  himself  be 
condemned.  The  judge  repeated  the  torture  as  many 
times  as  seemed  good  to  him;  the  accused  required  a 
good  deal  of  courage  not  to  confess  something  or 
not  to  retract;  he  could  then,  after  submitting  to 
several  seances  in  the  torture  chamber,  weary  the 
patience  of  the  judge,  who  would  decide  to  release 
him,  maimed  usually  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  The  tor- 
ture was  applied  to  women  as  well  as  to  men,  but 
in  general  the  nobles  and  the  rich  bourgeoisie  were 
spared. 

Again  upon  other  points  the  judges  by  profession 
succeeded  in  replacing  the  custom  with  regulations 
entirely  the  reverse.  Accustomed  as  they  were  to  hav- 
ing a  great  deal  to  do  with  criminals,  they  were 
naturally  inclined  to  see  a  culprit  in  every  accused  per- 
son. As  soon  as  a  man  was  suspected  they  had  him 
arrested,  did  not  allow  him  to  communicate  with  any 
one,  and  they  set  to  work  "to  examine  his  case,"  that 
is,  to  prepare  the  sentence.  Everything  that  could 
serve  as  information,  depositions,  witnesses,  declara- 
tions of  the  accused,  visits  to  the  premises,  all  was 
recorded  by  the  clerks  of  the  tribunal.  These  prepara- 
tions lasted  as  long  as  it  pleased  the  judges,  ordinarily 
some  months,  often  some  years.  During  all  this  time 
the  accused  remained  in  prison.  These  prisons,  which 
thus  became  the  indispensable  instruments  of  justice, 
were  hardly  any  better  than  those  of  the  old  donjons 


ABSOLUTE   POWER   IN    EUROPE  219 

of  the  Middle  Ages.  They  were  usually  cells,  badly 
lighted,  humid,  with  no  ventilation,  infected,  where 
the  half-starved  prisoner  slept  on  straw  spread  on  the 
floor,  unless  the  jailer  consented,  for  a  sum  of  money, 
to  furnish  a  bed  or  some  coverings ;  for  it  was  admitted 
that  the  jailer  had  the  right  to  exploit  the  prisoners. 

"They  make,"  said  a  jurisconsult  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  "in  place  of  humane  prisons,  cells,  dens,  cav- 
erns more  horrible  than  those  of  the  most  venomous 
beasts,  or  they  allow  the  prisoners  to  become  stiff  with 
cold,  mad  with  hunger,  putrid  with  vermin,  so  that  If 
through  pity  one  goes  to  see  them,  one  sees  them  rise 
from  the  damp  and  cold  ground  like  bears  in  their 
dens,  worm-eaten,  tawny  and  bloated." 

When  the  case  is  at  last  examined  the  judges  agree 
among  themselves,  and  decide  "according  to  the  docu- 
ments," that  is,  according  to  what  has  been  put  in 
writing  during  the  progress  of  the  examination;  the 
accused  is  not  allowed  to  have  an  attorney  nor  to  pre- 
sent his  defense ;  often  he  is  not  allowed  any  knowledge 
of  the  testimony  by  which  he  is  judged.  The  judges 
only  send  for  him  in  order  to  read  the  sentence  to  him. 

In  this  way  was  established  a  justice  entirely 
opposed  to  that  of  the  Middle  Ages;  in  place  of  a 
procedure,  public,  oral,  rapid,  where  the  accused  is 
presumed  to  be  innocent,  the  tribunals  of  the  law- 
makers adopted  a  procedure,  written,  secret,  slow, 
which  treated  the  accused  as  a  culprit.  The  judges 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  often  powerless  to  punish,  let 
many  a  guilty  man  escape ;  the  modern  judges  were 
sufficiently  well  armed  for  striking  the  criminal  as  well 
as  the  innocent.    Justice  on  becoming  a  regulated  pro- 


220  MEDLEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

fession  became  stronger,  it  suppressed  more  system- 
atically the  criminals  by  profession;  but  it  was  more 
formidable  for  the  accused. 

Besides  no  one  thought  of  ameliorating  the  bar- 
barous system  of  punishments  belonging  to  the  Middle 
Ages.  They  continued  to  hang,  burn  alive,  quarter, 
cut  off  the  fists  or  the  ears,  to  whip  and  to  expose  in 
the  public  square.  They  even  invented  new  torments ; 
the  most  common  was  the  wheel,  introduced  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  which  consisted  in  breaking  the 
arms  and  legs  by  blows  from  a  heavy  bar  of  wood 
or  iron,  then  the  victim  was  bound,  face  toward 
heaven,  on  a  wheel  and  left  to  die.  Each  town  had  its 
executioner,  its  stake,  its  pillory  and  place  of  execu- 
tion, ordinarily  in  the  centre  of  the  town  (in  Paris 
it  was  the  Place  de  Greve  near  the  Hotel  de  Ville), 
and  to  see  the  torments  was  one  of  the  diversions  of 
the  crowd.  Manners  became  more  gentle,  but  the 
judges  did  not  temper  the  penalties,  they  remained 
as  cruel  and  as  frequent  as  in  the  Middle  Ages  down 
to  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

DECLINE   OF    REPRESENTATIVE 
ASSEMBLIES 

End  of  the  Estates  General  in  France. — From  the 
time  of  Philip  the  Fair  the  kings  of  France  had  often 
summoned  to  an  assembly  the  chief  men  of  the  king- 
dom for  the  purpose  of  demanding  money  from  them. 

The  Estates  convened  at  Tours  during  the  minority 
of  Charles  VIII.  (1484)  were  the  largest  that  had 
ever  been  known,  all  the  bailiwicks  had  sent  repre- 


ABSOLUTE   POWER    IN    EUROPE  221 

sentatives,  three  for  each  bailiwick,  one  of  each  order. 
They  succeeded  in  diminishing  the  imposts  which 
Louis  XL  had  more  than  doubled,  but  they  could  not 
obtain  a  promise  from  the  king  that  he  would  regularly 
call  together  the  Estates ;  and  the  kings  of  the  sixteenth 
century  had  the  habit  of  not  convoking  them.  The 
Estates  General,  instead  of  becoming  a  national  institu- 
tion, like  the  English  parliament,  remained  an  extraor- 
dinary assembly,  which  the  court  very  unwillingly 
called  together  only  in  great  crises,  when  it  no  longer 
knew  how  to  procure  money.  In  ordinary  times  the 
king,  thanks  to  the  imposts  created  by  the  Estates, 
could  do  without  such  a  convocation. 

The  Cortes  of  Spain — The  kings  who  shared  the 
government  of  Spain  had  for  a  long  time  been  accus- 
tomed to  call  together  their  subjects  in  order  to  ask 
counsel  of  them ;  the  assemblies  were  held  at  the  court 
of  the  king,  and  were  called  cortes  (court).  They 
were  composed  of  nobles  and  deputies,  that  is,  repre- 
sentatives from  the  towns.  The  Cortes  of  Castile  at 
the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  had  acquired  a  power 
similar  to  that  of  the  parliament  of  England;  each 
year  they  gathered  in  the  presence  of  the  king,  pre- 
sented to  him  their  grievances  (their  complaints 
against  his  government),  and  did  not  grant  him  the 
right  to  levy  a  tax  until  he  had  promised  to  "redress 
these  grievances." 

The  Cortes  of  Aragon  had  the  same  power  and 
more  besides.  In  Aragon  the  king  was  not  ruler  over 
the  imposts,  nor  over  the  army,  nor  over  the  judiciary. 
He  could  levy  the  aid  only  after  he  had  redressed  the 
grievances,  he  had  to  come  in  person  to  open  and 


222  MEDLEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

close  the  session  of  the  cortes,  he  could  not  have  any 
proposition  passed  if  there  were  a  single  voice  opposed 
to  it.  Philip  II.,  in  order  to  spare  himself  this  long 
sojourn  in  Aragon  and  the  weariness  of  the  discussion, 
preferred  for  many  long  years  not  to  levy  taxes,  not  to 
call  together  the  cortes;  during  all  that  time  Aragon 
did  not  pay  any  taxes  to  the  king.  The  king  could 
not  permit  any  foreign  soldier  to  set  foot  on  the  soil 
of  Aragon;  he  had  his  tribunals  in  Aragon,  but  the 
chief  justice  named  by  the  cortes  had  the  right  to 
rescind  all  the  decisions  made  by  the  judges  oi  the  king, 
and  to  take  under  his  protection  all  the  people  of 
Aragon  who  were  arrested  or  condemned.  King  Peter 
II.  could  then  say  to  his  Aragon  subjects :  "You  do  not 
live  under  a  tyrannical  domination,  but  you  are 
endowed  with  much  liberty,"  and  this  liberty  was 
energetically  expressed  in  the  oath  which  the  seigniors 
of  Aragon  took  to  their  king :  "We  who  separately  are 
as  great  as  you,  and  united  are  more  than  you,  we 
swear  to  you,  that  we  will  obey  you,  if  you  respect 
our  liberties ;  otherwise  not." 

The  Basque  provinces  in  the  north  of  Spain  had 
like  liberties ;  they  are  the  famous  "f ueros"  which  exist 
even  in  our  day. 

Ruin  of  the  States  Assemblies — Almost  all  the  coun- 
tries of  western  x  Europe  had  assemblies  which  could 
have  prevented  the  princes  and  their  officers  from  gov- 
erning according  to  their  caprice,  and  which,  in  time, 
could  have  even  taken  the  government  in  hand   (as 

1  In  Italy  there  were  no  state's  laws  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples 
and  in  the  duchy  of  Savoy,  because  all  the  rest  of  the  country 
belonged  to  the  pope  or  to  the  sovereign  cities,  Florence,  Venice, 
Genoa. 


ABSOLUTE   POWER   IN   EUROPE  223 

happened  in  England  during  the  seventeenth  century). 
But  the  princes  were  not  willing  to  have  their  acts 
discussed  by  their  subjects ;  in  place  of  the  aids  granted 
only  for  a  time,  they  wanted  perpetual  imposts,  which 
they  could  levy  and  employ  at  will. 

By  ruse,  corruptions,  promises,  threats,  even  by 
force,  they  tried  to  suppress  the  assemblies  or  to 
reduce  them  to  a  simple  ceremonial. 

They  had  in  their  employ  the  only  two  real  forces, 
which  decided  everything  in  Europe,  since  respect  for 
the  custom  had  disappeared:  i.  Money  to  pay  the 
members  of  the  assemblies.  2.  Soldiers  to  make  them 
afraid.  Thus  they  succeeded  little  by  little  in  being 
delivered  from  the  disagreeable  control  of  the  estates. 

In  France  the  king  ceased  the  convocation  of  the 
Estates  General,  and  in  the  provinces,  which  had  pre- 
served their  provincial  estates,  they  were  only  called 
for  exactly  the  time  necessary  to  vote  the  tax. 

In  Germany  many  princes  put  a  stop  to  the  reunions 
of  their  Landtag;  those  who  still  retained  the  assembly 
had  no  difficulty  in  corrupting  or  intimidating  the 
members. 

In  Spain,  the  cortes,  better  organized,  revolted  when 
the  king  touched  their  liberties;  this  was  a  pretext 
for  taking  them  away.  It  is  reported  that  Queen 
Isabella  said :  "I  desire  but  one  thing,  that  the  people 
of  Aragon  revolt  and  give  me  the  opportunity  to 
attack  them  with  arms  and  to  change  their  constitu- 
tion." In  Castile  the  towns  revolted  in  1523;  the 
grandees,  through  jealousy,  supported  the  king,  and 
Charles  V.,  after  having  executed  the  chiefs  of  the 
revolt,   decided   that  in  the  future  the  cortes   should 


224  MEDIEVAL   CIVILIZATION 

vote  the  imposts  before  they  presented  their  griev- 
ances, he  forbade  the  deputies  to  have  any  understand- 
ing with  each  other  outside  of  the  sittings  of  the 
cortes,  and  sought  to  have  his  judges  and  his  courtiers 
made  deputies.  From  that  time  the  cortes  met  every 
third  year  and  voted  for  everything  that  the  king 
demanded.  At  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  the 
holding  of  the  cortes  was  nothing  more  than  a  comedy : 
the  deputies  came  to  the  castle  to  kiss  the  hand  of  the 
king,  the  king  came  into  the  hall  of  the  cortes  and 
made  known  to  them  the  amount  of  money  which  he 
desired ;  the  cortes  demanded  time  for  reflection.  At 
the  second  session  they  decided  to  petition  the  king 
to  send  away  his  secretaries  from  the  seance.  At  the 
third  session,  the  king  not  having  sent  away  his  secre- 
taries, the  cortes  in  their  presence  voted  for  the  im- 
post; then  the  deputies  went  and  announced  it  to  the 
king,  who  gave  them  his  hand  to  kiss,  and  each  one 
brought  his  petition  to  the  council  of  the  king.  In 
Aragon  the  people  rebelled  (1592)  when  the  king 
ordered  the  Inquisition  to  arrest  his  former  minister, 
Perez,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  the  country.  The 
king  sent  out  the  troops,  who  conquered  the  rebels, 
then  he  removed  the  head  of  the  judiciary,  appointed 
the  lieutenants  of  justice  and  put  a  garrison  in  the 
country.  The  cortes  continued  to  vote  the  tax,  but 
from  that  time  the  king  governed  free  from  any  con- 
trol by  the  assembly. 

Thus  the  government  of  the  country  by  the  nation 
came  to  an  end  throughout  all  Europe ; 1  and  there 

1  Except  in  England  and  Holland. 


ABSOLUTE   POWER   IN   EUROPE  225 

was  nothing  to  protect  the  people  from  the  absolute 
authority  of  their  princes. 

ESTABLISHMENT   OF  ABSOLUTE   POWER 

The  Italian  Princes — The  absolute  power  of  the 
princes  began  from  about  the  thirteenth  century  in 
Italy,  where  they  had  no  assemblies  of  the  estates.  The 
chiefs  of  the  mercenary  soldiers  (condottieri),  which 
the  towns  had  taken  into  their  service,  suppressed  the 
council  and  governed  like  masters.  The  most  power- 
ful were  the  Visconti  of  Milan,  who  gathered  all  the 
Milanese  into  one  state,  and  bought  the  title  of  dukes 
from  the  emperor.  Those  Italian  princes  were  strange 
personages,  at  the  same  time  artists  and  tyrants.1 
They  loved  to  make  themselves  feared  through  their 
cruelty,  and  admired  through  their  magnificence. 
Having  come  into  power  through  force  they  could  not, 
like  the  legitimate  princes  of  the  other  countries  of 
Europe,  count  on  the  devotion  of  their  subjects,  they 
knew  that  all  their  strength  lay  in  their  treasure  and 
in  their  mercenaries  ;  their  whole  policy  consisted,  then, 
in  drawing  from  the  country  as  much  money  as  they 
could  without  causing  a  revolt  among  their  subjects, 
in  supporting  enough  spies  to  be  informed  of  plots, 
and  to  be  always  surrounded  by  armed  guards  to 
defend  them  against  their  enemies.  Ludovic  the 
Moor,  Duke  of  Milan,  whom  the  Italians  admired 
as  the  most  clever  of  the  princes,  held  his  audiences 

1  "  While  forms  have  become  elegant,  and  taste  delicate,  char- 
acters and  the  hearts  have  remained  fierce;  these  people  are 
cultivated  men  of  the  world,  at  the  same  time  men  at  arms  and 
assassins,  they  are  intelligent  wolves."  Taine,  Philosophic  de 
1'Art  en  Italic. 


226  MEDLEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

behind  a  grating  which  he  allowed  no  one  to  approach, 
so  that  it  was  almost  necessary  to  shout  in  order  to 
be  heard.  He  levied  enormous  taxes  on  his  subjects; 
a  bourgeois  of  Cremona,  having  spoken  against  the 
new  imposts,  the  duke  had  him  secretly  strangled. 
This  tyrant  had  a  taste  for  the  fine  arts:  he  founded 
an  academy,  and  entertained  at  his  court  some  of  the 
greatest  artists  of  his  times,  Bramante  and  Leonardo 
da  Vinci.  Giovanni  Galeazzo  Visconti  was  also  a 
tyrant,  who  a  century  earlier  had  built  the  admirable 
Carthusian  monastery  at  Pavia,  and  the  cathedral  of 
Milan,  "the  most  magnificent  of  all  the  churches  of 
Christendom." 

Theory  of  the  Prince — The  other  peoples  of  Europe 
looked  upon  custom  as  a  sufficient  rule  for  their 
guidance,  and  they  had  not  yet  the  idea  of  reasoning 
about  the  affairs  of  government.  But  in  Italy,  where 
for  more  than  two  centuries  custom  had  been  vio- 
lated continually  by  the  parties  at  strife  and  by  the 
chiefs  of  the  mercenaries,  no  one  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury had  faith  any  longer  in  custom.  The  Italians 
at  that  time,  having  no  longer  any  rules  which  they 
had  to  respect,  began  to  think  concerning  the  state, 
and  to  search  for  some  rules  of  government.  To  gov- 
ern appeared  to  them  an  art  whose  purpose  is  to 
render  more  powerful  the  one  who  exercises  it;  the 
best  politician  in  their  eyes  was  he  who  knew  (not  the 
most  honorably,  but  the  most  cleverly,  how  to  increase 
his  power).  The  Duke  of  Milan  and  the  Republic  of 
Venice  had  been  distinguished  in  this  art;  Venice  had 
invented  diplomacy.  The  theory  was  established  by  a 
Florentine,  Machiavelli,  in  his  book  "The  Prince." 


ABSOLUTE   POWER   IN   EUROPE  227 

"We  learn  by  experience  in  our  own  time,"  says  he, 
"that  among  the  princes  those  who  have  done  great 
things  are  those  who  have  taken  little  account  of  their 
oaths  and  who  have  known  how,  through  a  mere 
ruse,  to  turn  the  heads  of  other  men.  A  prudent 
seignior  cannot  and  ought  not  to  keep  his  word  when 
that  is  injurious  to  him  and  when  the  motives  which 
induced  him  to  give  his  promise  no  longer  exist.  Be- 
sides, a  prince  has  never  wanted  for  legitimate  reasons 
to  color  his  failure  to  keep  his  word ;  but  he  must  color 
it  well,  and  be  a  great  dissembler."  The  perfect  prince 
whom  Machiavelli  gives  us  for  a  model  is  Caesar  Bor- 
gia, who,  during  his  whole  life,  never  failed  to  "play 
the  lion  in  the  skin  of  a  fox."  This  Borgia  amused 
himself  in  killing  the  condemned  by  shooting  arrows 
into  their  bodies,  and  he  massacred  his  enemies  after  he 
had  promised  to  spare  their  lives.  When  he  had 
caused  several  seigniors  to  be  strangled  at  Sinigaglia 
after  having  taken  them  in  an  ambuscade,  Machia- 
velli, who  had  been  present,  sent  to  the  governors  of 
Florence  a  special  report  entitled,  "Description  of  the 
method  employed  by  the  Duke  of  Valentinois  in  order 
to  kill  Vitellozo,  Oliveiro,  Seigneur  Pagolo  and  Duke 
Orsini,"  and  he  ends  thus :  "It  has  seemed  proper  for 
me  to  write  out  the  details  of  this  affair,  and  I  believe 
it  will  be  agreeable  to  you  by  reason  of  the  character 
of  the  deed,  which  is  at  every  point  rare  and 
memorable." 

Machiavelli  was  first  of  all  an  Italian  patriot;  he 
wanted  a  prince  powerful  enough  to  drive  the  "Bar- 
barians" (the  French  and  Spanish)  from  Italy;  and, 
convinced  that  a  prince  would  be  powerful  in  Italy 


228  MEDLEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

only  on  condition  of  being  dishonest,  he  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  demand  a  dishonest  prince.  But  his  maxims 
were  spread  abroad  outside  of  Italy,  and  became 
for  three  centuries  the  ideals  of  almost  all  the  states- 
men of  Europe. 

Absolutism  of  the  King  of  France. — Louis  XL  ad- 
mired Ludovic  the  Moor,  and  made  great  efforts  to 
imitate  him  in  his  own  government,  crushing  the  peo- 
ple with  taxes,  having  all  those  who  embarrassed  him 
imprisoned  or  executed,  often  this  was  done  secretly, 
and  he  would  endure  no  criticism  of  his  government. 
His  successors  were  less  cruel  than  he  was,  but  all 
held  to  this  principle,  that  the  king  alone  had  the 
right  to  govern,  that  in  his  kingdom  there  should  be 
no  other  power  than  his  own  and  that  of  his  servitors. 
They  respected  neither  the  liberty  of  their  subjects 
nor  the  custom.  Francis  I.  decreed  ordinances  which 
overthrew  all  legal  procedure  without  taking  counsel 
even  with  his  subjects.  Henceforth  everything  was 
regulated  in  secret  in  the  cabinet  of  the  king;  simple 
private  secretaries  of  the  king  began  in  the  sixteenth 
century  to  become  the  real  masters  of  France;  they 
were  not  yet  called  ministers,  but  they  already  took 
upon  themselves  and  arranged  all  the  business  affairs 
of  the  government,  and  in  the  name  of  the  king  they 
governed  the  whole  kingdom. 

The  nobles,  set  aside  from  the  royal  council,  began 
to  say:  "Our  kings  were  formerly  called  the  kings  of 
the  Francs,  now  they  may  be  called  the  kings  of  the 
serfs."  The  clergy  since  the  Concordant  of  1516  had 
been  in  the  hands  of  the  king.  Almost  all  the  towns 
were  goverened  by   the   officers   of   the   king.     The 


ABSOLUTE   POWER   IN   EUROPE  229 

Estates-General  were  no  longer  convened.  The  Parle- 
ment  of  Paris,  which  at  its  origin  was  only  a  corps  of 
judges  appointed  by  the  king,  then  tried  to  intervene 
in  the  government.  When  the  king  made  a  new  ordi- 
nance it  had  to  be  inscribed  on  he  registers  of  the 
parlement;  that  was  a  means  of  preserving  it,  and  of 
making  it  public.  Parlement  got  into  the  habit  of  mak- 
ing remonstrances  to  the  king  before  the  registration 
was  ordered.  But  the  king  was  not  obliged  to  listen  to 
the  remonstrance;  if  he  wanted  an  ordinance  passed 
it  was  sufficient  for  him  to  go  to  parlement  in  person 
(having  the  parlement  sit  in  the  presence  of  the  king), 
that  is,  give  the  order  for  registration  under  his  own 
eyes.  Louis  XI.  had,  in  1462,  forced  parlement  to 
declare  "that  it  was  instituted  by  the  king  for  the 
purpose  of  administering  justice  and  that  it  did  not 
have  any  control  over  either  war,  the  finances,  the 
government  by  the  king,  or  the  great  princes." 

In  1 5 16,  when  the  delegates  of  the  Parlement  of 
Paris  came  to  protest  against  the  Concordat,  Francis  I. 
answered :  "I  am  the  king,  I  intend  to  be  obeyed :  to- 
morrow, carry  my  orders  to  my  parlement  in  Paris." 
No  authority  in  France  could  henceforth  prevent  the 
king  from  governing  in  a  despotic  manner. 

Absolutism  of  the  King  of  Spain. — The  King  of 
Spain  had  forbidden  the  great  lords  to  take  into  their 
service  any  armed  men :  he  alone  had  an  army.  He 
had  a  treasury  supplied  by  the  taxes,  which  were  paid 
to  him  by  the  rich  towns  of  the  Low  Countries,  and 
(since  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century)  by  the 
mines  of  Mexico  and  Peru.  He  had  besides  an  instru- 
ment of  domination  which  was  lacking  to  all  the  other 


230  MEDIEVAL  CIVILIZATION 

princes,  the  Inquisition  or  Holy  Office.  The  Inquisi- 
tion, invented  in  the  thirteenth  century  for  use  against 
the  heretics  of  southern  France,  had  also  been  intro- 
duced into  Spain,  but  in  the  fifteenth  century  it  had 
fallen  into  desuetude.  Ferdinand,  in  1478,  obtained 
permission  from  the  pope  for  its  re-establishment,  but 
this  time  under  the  form  of  a  royal  tribunal.  The 
king  himself  appointed  the  inquisitor-judges,  and  con- 
fiscated to  his  own  use  the  property  of  the  condemned. 
The  Inquisition  had  the  right  of  judging  all  persons 
without  distinction  of  rank,  by  employing  every  means 
that  was  deemed  expedient,  in  particular  secret  denun- 
ciations and  torture,  it  imprisoned  at  will,  judged 
secretly,  and  condemned  to  a  fine,  to  prison,  to  punish- 
ment by  rods,  or  by  burning  at  the  stake.  Many  con- 
demned were  executed  at  the  same  time,  and  their 
execution  was  made  a  religious  ceremony,  which  was 
called  an  act  of  faith  (auto  da  fe).  The  king  often 
assisted  at  these  ceremonies. 

Ordinances. — In  the  Middle  Ages  all  the  people  of 
Europe  followed  the  custom.  But  in  the  fourteenth 
century  the  Roman  law,  which  was  taught  in  the 
schools,  had  begun  to  be  introduced  into  the  tribunals 
without  the  custom  being  abolished,  so  that  during  two 
centuries  no  one  in  Europe  knew  exactly  by  what  law 
he  was  to  be  judged.  About  this  time  the  kings  and 
the  princes  began  to  issue  regulations  which  they  called 
edicts  or  ordinances.  Sometimes  this  was  done  with 
the  consent  of  the  Estates,  but  almost  always  by  their 
sole  authority  and  without  taking  any  other  advice 
than  that  of  their  councillors.  In  France  the  ordi- 
nances ended  thus :  "For  such  is  our  pleasure." 


ABSOLUTE   POWER   IN   EUROPE  231 

Since  the  thirteenth  century  had  been  found  men 
of  the  law,  judges  or  advocates,  who  for  the  con- 
venience of  the  court  or  of  the  litigants,  had  tried  to 
put  into  writing  the  custom,  which  was  followed  in 
the  country;  but  these  documents  were  only  manuals, 
they  did  not  have  the  force  of  law,  the  judge  used 
them  only  at  his  pleasure.  In  the  sixteenth  century  the 
need  of  escaping  from  this  confusion  by  replacing  the 
custom  with  law  was  strongly  felt.  The  subjects  being 
accustomed  to  the  idea  that  they  ought  to  obey  the 
orders  of  the  prince,  the  ordinances  of  the  princes 
became  the  foundation  of  the  laws  of  each  country. 
Custom  did  not  disappear,  but  it  was  transformed. 
In  France,  for  example,  Louis  XII.  and  Francis  I. 
ordered  the  judges  to  write  out  the  custom  of  each 
province,  and  these  customs  approved  by  the  king 
became  the  obligatory  laws.  The  same  thing  was 
done  in  other  countries.  Henceforth  there  was  a  law 
everywhere  in  Europe,  often  very  obscure,  but  it  was 
at  least  fixed  in  writing.1  This  law  drew  all  its  force 
from  the  authority  of  the  prince;  therefore  it  was 
admitted  that  the  prince  had  the  right  to  change  it 
at  will.  The  prince,  who  had  already  armies,  taxes, 
governors  and  judges,  in  order  to  make  himself  obeyed 
in  the  present,  acquired  the  power  of  making  the  laws, 
that  is,  pledges  for  the  future  welfare  of  his  house. 

1  In  England  the  custom  was  still  invoked,  under  the  name 
of  common  law. 


MODERN   CIVILIZATION 


CHAPTER   XVII 
INVENTIONS    AND   DISCOVERIES 

THE    INVENTIONS 

The  Invention  of  Gunpowder — The  Chinese  had  for 
a  long  time  known  how  to  make  powder,  but  they  did 
not  use  it  except  for  fireworks.  The  alchemists  of  the 
thirteenth  century  had  known  of  a  mixture  of  carbon, 
sulphur  and  saltpetre,  but  this  powder  fused  instead  of 
exploding.  The  Arabs  in  purifying  the  saltpetre  suc- 
ceeded in  producing  a  real  gunpowder,  and  used  it  for 
throwing  projectiles  through  a  tube.  The  Christians 
imitated  them ;  in  1325  Florence  had  metal  cannon  and 
iron  balls  cast.  The  invention  was  adopted  throughout 
Europe,  but  it  was  perfected  slowly.  Until  the  fifteenth 
century  most  of  the  cannon  threw  only  stone  bullets, 
and  did  not  carry  any  farther  than  a  bow.  The  porta- 
ble cannon  was  still  so  heavy  to  manage  that  it  was 
necessary  to  fix  it  on  a  forked  standard.  For  a  long 
time  the  powder  made  more  noise  than  it  did  any 
hurt.  Two  centuries  after  they  had  begun  to  use  it 
the  knights  still  wore  the  iron  armor,  the  foot  soldiers 
still  fought  with  the  bow,  cross-bow  and  pike,  and  the 
towns  still  erected  ramparts  and  towers.  .Artillery  did 
not  become  really  formidable  until  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, and  the  portable  firearms  did  not  become  danger- 

235 


236  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

ous  until  the  seventeenth  century.  But  the  effects  of 
the  use  of  powder,  though  slowly  set  forth,  have  been 
great.  Henceforth  the  castles,  whose  walls  crumbled 
away  under  the  cannon  shot,  no  longer  sheltered  the 
nobles;  the  princes  alone  have  had  sufficient  wealth 
to  maintain  a  body  of  artillery.  Powder  ruined  the 
political  power  of  the  nobility,  and  rendered  the  power 
of  the  princes  irresistible. 

The  Mariner's  Compass — The  Arabs  knew  that  the 
magnetized  needle  would  turn  toward  the  North;  it 
was  known  in  Europe  in  the  thirteenth  century,  but 
they  were  satisfied  to  place  the  needle  on  a  bit  of 
straw  in  a  vase  of  water.  When  they  had  thought  of 
putting  the  needle  on  a  pivot  and  of  protecting  it  with 
a  box  the  compass  was  invented.  It  rendered  great 
service  to  the  mariners,  enabling  them  to  find  their 
bearings  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night,  and  in  all 
weathers.  It  must  not  be  imagined,  however,  that  it 
produced  a  sudden  revolution ;  the  Norwegian  sailors 
had  already  gone  to  Greenland,  and  without  the  aid  of 
the  compass,  and  the  Portuguese  mariners,  with  the 
compass,  dared  not  venture  out  into  the  open  sea. 

The  Invention  of  Paper — The  Arabs  had  introduced 
the  art  of  making  paper  into  Europe,  and  since  it  had 
become  general  to  wear  1  shirts  of  linen,2  there  was 
an  abundance  of  rags  for  the  manufacture  of  paper. 
This  simple  invention  was  of  great  import;  the  paper, 

1  Toward  the  fourteenth  century  body  linen  came  into  gen- 
eral use  in  France. 

2  It  was  thought  until  recently  that  paper  in  Europe  was 
first  made  of  cotton  and  only  after  the  close  of  the  thirteenth 
century  was  it  made  with  linen;  but,  on  examining,  with  a 
microscope  the  papers,  said  to  have  been  made  of  cotton,  it  has 
been  found  that  all  are  linen  papers,  but  badly  made. 


INVENTIONS  AND   DISCOVERIES  237 

much  cheaper  than  parchment  and  much  more  con- 
venient for  use,  furnished  the  printing-press  the  needed 
material  for  its  work. 

Printing — From  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury the  people  of  the  Low  Countries  had  tried  to 
produce  the  pictures  of  saints  and  r(eligious  books  in 
greater  numbers  by  engraving  on  a  wood-plank  a  pic- 
ture or  a  page  of  writing.  Ink  was  passed  over  this 
plank,  and  immediately  a  leaf  of  paper  was  applied  to 
it,  so  was  printed  the  "Poor  Man's  Bible."  But  for 
each  page  of  new  writing  it  was  necessary  to  engrave 
a  new  plank  (as  is  still  done  in  lithography).  They 
tried  to  make  separate  letters  which  could  afterward 
be  put  together  as  desired;  then  it  was  found  that 
letters  made  of  wood  were  worthless,  and  the  idea 
of  making  them  of  metal  was  tried.  Gutenberg  finally 
invented  a  mixture  of  lead  and  antimony  which  served 
for  the  casting  of  letters  for  printing.  Thus  began 
the  art  of  printing  (the  first  printed  book  was  the 
Bible  in  1455).  The  art  spread  rapidly,  especially  in 
Italy,  where  the  laity  felt  a  keen  desire  for  reading  and 
instruction.  By  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  more 
than  10,000  editions  had  been  printed  in  Europe,  of 
which  one-fourth  was  printed  at  Venice;  54  Italian 
towns  already  had  a  printing-office.  The  first  books 
were  all  in  folios,  not  easy  to  handle,  and  in  Gothic 
characters ;  gradually  smaller  forms  and  characters 
easier  to  read  were  adopted. 

The  results  of  this  introduction  of  printing  followed 
rapidly,  and  were  of  grave  import.  Books,  old  and 
new,  printed  by  the  thousand  were  scattered  through 
all  classes  of  society.    The  clergy  and  the  scholars  were 


238  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

no  longer  the  only  persons  who  were  acquainted  with 
the  works  of  science  and  the  sacred  books.  The  laity 
and  people  in  society  became  acquainted  with  litera- 
ture and  theology ;  and  they  set  about  it  with  the  ardor 
which  a  new  study  arouses.  Soon  a  lay  theology  and 
a  lay  literature  were  formed :  one  was  the  Reforma- 
tion ;  the  other  the  Renaissance. 

But  even  then  the  art  of  printing  had  not  borne 
all  its  fruit.  It  had  only  produced  the  book ;  three  cen- 
turies later  it  produced  the  newspaper.  The  book 
caused  a  literary  and  religious  revolution;  the  news- 
paper was  in  the  nineteenth  century  to  cause  a  revolu- 
tion in  government  and  in  commerce. 

DISCOVERIES 

Progress  of  Discovery — During  all  the  Middle  Ages 
the  European  merchants  had  gone  to  Syria  or  to 
Egypt  for  the  merchandise  of  the  Indies.  The  Arabs 
had  made  them  pay  dearly  for  their  goods ;  spices  from 
India  were  sold  in  Alexandria  at  prices  three  times 
greater  than  were  demanded  in  Calcutta,  and  incense 
was  five  times  more  costly  than  it  was  in  Arabia.  The 
Europeans  therefore  eagerly  desired  to  find  a  way  by 
which  they  could  go  directly  to  the  Indies  for  the  pep- 
per, cinnamon,  nutmegs  and  ivory,  which  they  could 
not  do  without.  This  desire  increased  when  the  Turks 
had  destroyed  the  commerce  of  Italy  with  the  Levant. 

The  Portuguese  mariners  sought  for  a  route  by  the 
east  to  the  Indies,  Africa  was  in  the  way,  they  went 
along  the  coast  from  north  to  south,  from  time  to  time 
discovering  islands  and  the  coast.     It  took  them  fifty 


INVENTIONS   AND   DISCOVERIES  239 

years  to  reach  the  cape  which  is  at  the  southern  ex- 
tremity of  Africa;  the  king  ordered  them  to  call  it 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 

The  hope  was  soon  realized ;  Vasco  da  Gama  doub- 
led the  cape,  discovered  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa 
and  landed  in  India,  where  he  was  able  to  buy  mer- 
chandise at  an  advantageous  price.  On  continuing 
toward  the  east,  the  Portuguese  discovered  Indo- 
China,  the  great  islands  of  the  Straits  of  Sunda  (the 
Moluccas),  and  entered  into  relations  with  China  and 
Japan.    But  they  did  not  go  much  farther. 

The  thought  grew  of  looking  for  the  route  to  India 
by  the  west.  The  learned  men  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury were  not  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  the  earth  is 
round ; 1  they  knew  even  that  there  was  land  on  the 
other  side  of  the  ocean.  Two  Italian  sailors  had  the 
audacity  to  start  out  across  that  unknown  sea.  Both 
were  in  the  service  of  a  foreign  prince,  Christopher 
Columbus  in  the  service  of  the  Queen  of  Castile,  Sebas- 
tian Cabot  in  the  service  of  the  King  of  England.2 
Cabot,  leaving  England,  sought  for  the  way  by  the 
northwest,  and  came  suddenly  against  the  shores  of 
Labrador,  and  the  ice-covered  lands  of  North  America. 
Columbus,  leaving  Spain,  sought  for  the  way  by  the 
southwest,  and  arrived  at  the  Antilles.  He  thought 
that  he  had  found  the  Indies ;  and  the  custom  continued 
to  call  America  the  Indies  and  the  inhabitants  Indians. 
Other   Spaniards   found  out  that  America  formed  a 

1  After  the  voyages  of  the  Portuguese  to  Africa,  they  also 
knew  that  the  countries  south  of  the  tropics  were  not  so  hot 
that  they  could  cause  the  death  of  the  Europeans  or  make  them 
like  unto  the  negro.  It  was  not  this  fear  that  delayed  the  dis- 
covery of  America. 

2  John  Cabot  should  be  given  the  honor. — Ed. 


240  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

continent;  they  discovered  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and 
found  out  little  by  little  the  shores  of  South  America. 
However,  they  continued  to  seek  for  the  route  by  the 
west.  Magellan  finally  found  it  by  going  around 
America,  as  the  Portuguese  had  gone  around  Africa. 
The  Spanish  ships  crossed  the  Pacific  Ocean  as  far 
as  the  Moluccas,  where  they  met  the  Portuguese,  who 
were  very  much  astonished  to  see  Europeans  coming 
from  the  east ;  at  the  end  of  three  years  they  returned 
to  Spain,  having  circumnavigated  the  globe.1 

During  two  centuries  all  the  powers  that  had  any 
ports  on  the  ocean,  Spain,  Portugal,  England,  France 
and  Holland,  sent  forth  expeditions.  They  succeeded 
in  discovering  the  shores  of  North  America,  they 
reconnoitred  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  and  of  Aus- 
tralia. 

These  journeys  for  maritime  discoveries  continued 
until  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Then  only 
could  a  complete  map  of  the  shores  be  made.  At 
the  same  time  adventurers  following  the  great  rivers 
of  America  (Mississippi,  St.  Lawrence,  Amazon,  La 
Plata)  explored  the  new  continent. 

Character  and  Purpose  of  the  Expeditions Those 

great  voyages  of  the  sixteenth  century  did  not  at  all 
resemble  the  scientific  explorations  of  our  times. 
Neither  the  sailors  nor  the  princes  who  sent  them  out 
were  at  all  eager  for  the  advancement  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  geography.  For  them  the  expedition  was  an 
enterprise  destined  to  yield  a  profit.  It  was  while 
seeking  for  spices  that  the  Indies  and  America  were 
discovered,  it  was  to  bring  back  gold  that  settlements 
1  Magellan  was  killed  in  the  Philippine  Islands. — Ed. 


INVENTIONS  AND   DISCOVERIES  241 

were  made  in  Guinea,  and  incursions  made  in  Mexico 
and  Peru.  For  a  long  time  the  Spaniards  searched 
everywhere  in  the  interior  of  the  two  Americas  for  the 
famous  Eldorado  (the  golden  country),  where  they 
expected  to  find  fields  of  gold.1  They  organized  some 
very  singular  expeditions.  In  15132  Ponce  de  Leon 
departed  at  the  head  of  a  band  in  search  of  the  fountain 
of  perpetual  youth,  whose  waters  rejuvenated  every 
one  who  bathed  in  them,  and  for  years  the  Spaniards 
explored  Florida,  dipping  into  all  the  rivers  and  pools 
in  order  to  see  whether  they  had  found  the  marvellous 
fountain. 

The  adventurers  who  departed  for  the  Indies  hoped 
to  grow  rich  quickly,  and  without  any  labor;  a  cargo 
of  spices,  several  pounds  of  gold  were  sufficient;  they 
counted  on  soon  returning  to  Europe  in  order  to  enjoy 
their  wealth.  Columbus  himself  was  thinking  of  some- 
thing else  beside  science  before  he  embarked,  for  he 
was  then  only  a  miserable  adventurer,  and  he  exacted 
a  promise  from  the  Queen  of  Castile,  by  an  act  drawn 
in  due  form,  that  he  and  his  children  should  be 
ennobled,  and  that  he  should  have  the  title  of  Admiral 
of  the  Atlantic,  and  be  viceroy  of  the  countries  that 
he  was  going  to  discover ;  he  was  also  to  have  one- 
tenth  of  the  revenue  and  one-eight  of  the  commercial 
benefits. 

Those  explorers  did  not  desire  to  give  the  results 
of  their  discoveries  to  the  world ;  they  preferred  to 
keep  them  for  themselves.     On  his  first  return  from 

1  By  chance,  resembling  the  irony  of  fate,  the  gold  countries, 
California  and  Australia,  have  become  known  only  in  our 
century. 

1  The  year  15 12. — Ed. 


242  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

America  Columbus  wrote  in  the  diary  of  his  voyage : 
"I  have  purposely  informed  the  sailors  that  the  voyage 
of  each  day  was  longer  than  it  really  was,  so  as  to 
deceive  pilots  and  sailors,  and  keep  for  myself  the  key 
to  navigation  in  the  west.  I  have  succeeded  so  well 
that  now  no  one  is  able  to  determine  upon  the  route 
in  order  to  return  to  the  Indies." 

For  the  peoples  who  had  discovered  these  new  coun- 
tries it  was  an  important  question  how  to  keep  away 
rival  nations.  Like  the  Phoenicians  of  the  olden  time, 
each  one  wanted  to  be  the  only  one  who  was  acquainted 
with  the  route  to  the  lands  of  gold  and  spices.  When 
Columbus  landed  at  the  Azores  on  his  return  from 
America,  the  Portuguese  of  the  Azores  took  prisoners 
all  the  sailors  who  went  on  shore,  and  cut  the  moor- 
ings of  the  ship.  When  Magellan  1  arrived  at  the 
Moluccas,  in  making  the  first  expedition  around  the 
globe,  the  Portuguese  of  the  Moluccas  seized  the 
sailors.  Even  the  explorers  of  the  same  country  sought 
to  injure  each  other.  The  governor  of  Cuba  learning 
that  his  lieutenant,  Hernando  Cortez,  was  going  to 
conquer  Mexico,  sent  out  an  expedition  in  order  to 
stop  him.  In  Peru  the  Spaniards,  as  soon  as  they  were 
masters  of  the  country,  separated  into  two  parties, 
and  made  bitter  war  on  each  other.  Pizarro  was 
killed,  Amalgro  was  beheaded. 

These  surprising  discoveries  were  made  with  very 
feeble  resources ;  the  greater  number  of  them  were  com- 
mercial enterprises.  The  princes  who  risked  money 
in  these  enterprises,  wanted  the  expenses  covered 
by  the  profits.     Columbus  had  only  three  small  ships 

1  His  companions  arc  intended. — Ed. 


INVENTIONS  AND   DISCOVERIES  243 

and  ninety  men,  the  expedition  had  cost  only  5,000 
ducats;1  that  of  Magellan  cost  22,000  ducats,  and 
there  was  brought  back  100,000,  because  the  ships 
returned  laden  with  cloves.  Ships  were  employed,  the 
caravels,  were  not  made  for  such  long  voyages.  They 
had  to  remain  months,  sometimes  years,  in  the  open 
sea,  on  an  unknown  ocean.  The  expeditions  by  land, 
in  a  wild  country  without  provisions,  without  shelter, 
were  still  more  dangerous.  In  1 540  Orellana  left  Peru 
in  order  to  explore  the  country  beyond  the  Andes. 
With  only  a  few  discouraged  and  sick  men,  without 
provisions,  and  already  reduced  to  the  necessity  of 
eating  the  leather  of  their  shoes  he  came  upon  a  trib- 
utary of  the  Amazon.  They  had  the  audacity  to 
descend  the  stream,  and  after  unheard-of-sufferings 
they  arrived  in  Brazil,  having  crossed  the  whole  width 
of  South  America.  These  adventurers  were  truly  men 
of  iron. 

The  Conquest — The  princes  who  sent  out  these  expe- 
ditions wanted  to  increase  their  domains;  a  land  was 
discovered  in  order  to  be  conquered.  The  Portuguese 
established  themselves  at  Madeira  and  at  the  Azores; 
they  built  lines  of  fortresses  along  the  two  coasts  of 
Africa.  In  the  Indies  and  in  the  Moluccas,  where 
they  found  the  country  in  possession  of  the  native 
princes  or  of  the  Moslem  sultans,  they  obtained,  now 
by  treaty  with  the  prince,  now  by  force,  the  control 
of  some  of  the  ports.  Then  they  built  fortresses, 
storehouses  and  arsenals,  sending  there  a  fleet  and  a 
small  army,  and  appointed  a  governor  whom  they 
called  the  Viceroy  of  India.  When  they  had  destroyed 
1  The  ducat  was  worth  about  ten  francs. — Ed. 


244  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

the  fleets  of  the  Sultan  of  Egypt  and  of  the  Sultan 
of  Ormuz,  who  had  up  to  that  time  carried  on  a  com- 
merce with  the  Indies,  they  were  sole  masters  in  the 
Indian  Ocean,  and  established  the  principle  that  the 
sea  belonged  to  them,  and  that  no  one  had  the  right 
to  sail  upon  it.  A  foreign  ship,  which  they  chanced 
to  meet  there,  if  it  could  not  show  a  letter  of  per- 
mission, was  treated  as  a  pirate,  and  the  crew  put 
to  death.  The  King  of  Portugal  took  the  title  of 
"Master  of  the  commerce  of  the  Indies  and  Ethi- 
opia." 

The  Spaniards  on  arriving  in  America  found  only 
tribes  of  very  feeble  savages,  and  had  no  trouble  in 
taking  possession  of  the  country.  As  soon  as  they 
approached  an  unknown  country  the  chief  of  the  ex- 
pedition landed,  displayed  the  standard  of  the  King  of 
Castile,  and  distributed  some  inconsiderable  presents 
to  the  natives ;  the  royal  notary,  whom  they  had  taken 
with  them  for  the  purpose,  drew  up  an  act  taking 
possession,  and  the  country  was  thereafter  the  domain 
of  the  king. 

Thus  were  occupied  the  Antilles  and  a  large  part  of 
South  America.  In  Mexico  and  in  Peru  the  Spaniards 
found  two  large  organized  empires,  but  the  warriors 
were  seized  with  awe  at  the  sight  of  these  white  men 
coming  up  out  of  the  sea,  riding  unknown  animals 
(horses)  and  shooting  thunder;  and  they  came  to 
meet  them,  adoring  them  as  children  of  the  sun.  When 
an  attempt  was  made  to  force  the  native  kings  to  give 
up  their  treasures  they  decided  to  make  war,  but 
they  could  not  stand  against  the  arms  of  the  Euro- 
peans, and  in  Mexico  we  see  100,000  native  warriors 


INVENTIONS  AND   DISCOVERIES  245 

beaten  by  a  troop  of  1,200  men.  After  the  victory 
came  the  conquest;  the  adventurers  took  the  place  of 
the  Indian  chiefs,  and  became  their  seigniors.  For  a 
long  time  the  great  families  of  Mexico  boasted  of 
being  descended  from  these  "conquerors." 

It  was  in  this  manner  that  the  countries  discovered 
became  the  domains  of  the  kings  of  Castile  and  of 
Portugal.  In  order  to  make  their  titles  more  secure 
the  kings  addressed  the  pope,  who,  in  his  quality  of 
successor  to  Saint  Peter,  was  the  sovereign  of  the 
universe;  and  the  pope  by  an  act  in  due  form  divided 
the  world  between  the  two  kings.  He  traced  a  line 
around  the  globe.  It  passed  three  hundred  leagues 
west  of  Madeira;  all  the  countries  to  the  east  of  that 
line  (Africa  and  the  Indies)  belonged  to  the  King  of 
Portugal;  all  the  countries  to  the  west  (that  is, 
America)  belonged  to  the  King  of  Castile.  This  was 
the  line  of  demarcation.1  Later,  when  the  Spaniards 
arrived  in  Oceanica  through  the  Straits  of  Magellan, 
it  was  necessary  to  trace  a  second  line  between  the 
Moluccas  and  the  Philippines. 

Commerce. — These  expeditions  had  been  due  to  the 
enterprise  of  commerce;  Portuguese  and  Spanish  had 
sent  their  ships  into  countries  where  they  hoped  to 
find  precious  commodities;  they  especially  sought  for 
spices  (pepper,  cinnamon,  nutmegs,  cloves,  ginger), 
which  the  Orient  alone  produces  and  which  the  Euro- 
peans had  grown  accustomed  to  use.     When  the  Por- 

1  This  division  caused  great  differences;  the  Spaniards  and 
the  Portuguese  were  not  agreed  as  to  what  countries  the  line 
must  pass  through,  and  there  were  not  enough  good  maps  to 
help  solve  the  difficulty.  Brazil  remained  under  the  Portu- 
guese, although  it  was  west  of  the  line  of  demarcation. 


246  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

tuguese  had-  found  the  route  to  the  Indies  by  way 
of  the  cape,  they  made  it  their  property,  and  until  the 
end  of  the  sixteenth  century  all  the  trade  in  spices 
passed  through  Portugal.  Great  ships  armed  as  for 
war  went  to  the  Indies  for  the  spices,  and  unloaded 
them  at  Lisbon. 

The  Spanish  were  also  looking  for  spices.  Colum- 
bus was  charged  by  the  Queen  of  Castile  to  conclude 
a  treaty  with  the  Prince  of  Japan.  Arrived  at  the 
island  of  Cuba  he  took  it  for  Japan,  and  sent  on  land 
a  Jew  who  knew  Arabic  with  samples  of  spices  in 
order  to  find  out  whether  the  country  produced  the 
same  kind  of  commodity. 

But  America  was  not  the  country  of  spices,  and 
the  route  that  Magellan  discovered  somewhat  later 
was  too  long  to  set  up  a  competition  with  the  route 
to  the  Indies,  which  belonged  to  the  Portuguese.  By 
way  of  compensation  the  Spaniards,  having  observed 
at  the  very  first  island  when  they  landed  gold  orna- 
ments in  the  noses  of  the  savages,  set  about  searching 
for  gold.  The  gold  of  the  Antilles  was  soon  ex- 
hausted. But  in  Mexico  and  Peru,  even  after  they  had 
carried  off  the  treasures  accumulated  by  the  native 
sovereigns,  the  Spaniards  remained  masters  of  the 
mines.  The  richest  were  the  silver  mines,  and  still 
richer  ones  were  discovered  at  Potosi  in  Mexico  in 

1545- 

Each  year  a  ship  laden  with  gold  and  silver  left 
America,  escorted  by  Spanish  vessels  of  war,  and 
landed  its  cargo  at  Seville. 

The  cargo  increased  continually  in  value.  During 
the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  it  was  only  three 


INVENTIONS  AND   DISCOVERIES  247 

million  piastres :  during  the  second  it  mounted  to  eleven 
millions;  from  1600  to  1620  it  came  to  eleven  millions 
of  ducats  (the  piastre  was  worth  about  five  francs, 
the  ducat, ten  francs);  in  1624  to  fourteen  millions. 
The  king  took  the  fifth  of  it.  America  was  the  coun- 
try of  gold  and  silver,  as  India  was  the  country  of 
spices. 

The  Slave  Trade — The  Spanish  adventurers  who 
occupied  the  Antilles  wanted  gold,  but  they  did  not 
intend  to  give  themselves  much  trouble  in  looking  for 
it,  so  they  forced  the  inhabitants  to  wash  out  the 
gold  for  them.  At  the  same  time  they  introduced  the 
sugar  cane,  and  forced  the  inhabitants  to  cultivate  it. 
The  natives,  not  accustomed  to  heavy  labor,  could  not 
endure  that  life;  many  committed  suicide,  others  fled 
to  the  woods,  the  greater  number  died  of  fatigue  and 
illness.  At  Santo  Domingo  there  were  about  400,000 
inhabitants  when  the  Spaniards  arrived,  in  1508  there 
were  only  60,000  remaining;  in  15 14  only  14,000  and 
at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  men  of  that  race 
had  entirely  disappeared. 

The  Portuguese  who  had  settled  on  the  coast  of 
Guinea  had  for  a  long  time  employed  the  negroes  as 
slaves.  The  Spaniards  had  the  idea  of  replacing  the 
native  Americans  with  negroes  from  Africa,  more 
robust  and  more  accustomed  to  warm  climates.  In 
1 5 19  Charles  V.  granted  the  monopoly  of  the  com- 
merce in  slaves  for  eight  years  to  a  Fleming  noble, 
who  sold  it  immediately  to  a  commercial  house  in 
Genoa.  Thus  was  created  the  slave-trade.  European 
merchants  went  to  the  shores  of  Africa  for  the  negroes  ; 
sometimes  they  bought   from  the  petty  negro  kings 


248  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

their  prisoners  of  war  or  even  their  subjects  in  ex- 
change for  necklaces  of  glass  beads,  and  for  trump- 
ery merchandise;  sometimes  they  attacked  the  negro 
villages  and  carried  off  the  inhabitants,  as.  the  Arab 
slave  merchants  of  Central  Africa  still  continue 
to  do. 

An  English  admiral  of  the  sixteenth  century  boasted 
of  having  caused  the  death  of  several  thousand  blacks 
in  order  to  bring  away  four  hundred  captives.  The 
negroes  were  piled  up  in  the  hold  of  the  ship,  as  many 
as  it  could  contain;  and  they  remained  without  air, 
and  without  light  during  the  passage  of  several  weeks. 
They  died  by  hundreds.  The  survivors  arriving  in 
America  were  sold  as  slaves  and  sent  to  the  sugar  and 
coffee  plantations,  where  the  overseers  made  them  work 
under  the  lash. 

The  slave  trade  continued  until  1815.  All  the  nations 
of  Europe  have  carried  it  on  in  order  to  furnish  slaves 
to  the  Spaniards  at  first,  and  afterward  to  the  Euro- 
peans who  had  settled  in  America.  The  "commerce 
in  ebony,"  as  it  was  derisively  called,  was  the  most 
lucrative  of  all,  and  the  slave  merchants  were  sure  to 
become  rich. 

In  proportion  as  the  warm  countries  were  cultivated, 
producing  sugar,  cotton  and  coffee,  it  was  found  neces- 
sary to  increase  the  number  of  blacks,  who  were 
regarded  as  the  needful  instruments  for  that  culture. 
Therefore  so  many  negroes  were  imported  into  the 
Antilles,  Brazil,  Venezuela,  even  into  the  English 
colonies  of  North  America,  that  they  form  today  the 
bulk  of  the  population.1  The  African  race  has  taken 
1  In  portions  of  these  states. — Ed. 


INVENTIONS  AND   DISCOVERIES  249 

the  place  of  the  American  race,  which  was  destroyed ; 
it  has  conquered  tropical  America,  in  spite  of  efforts 
to  the  contrary. 

Consequences  of  the  Discoveries Thanks  to  the  dis- 
coveries of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  inhabitants  of 
Europe  have  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  rest  of  the 
world ;  of  the  old  world  of  India  and  China,  inhabited 
by  the  most  civilized  peoples;  of  the  new  world  of 
America,  occupied  by  the  most  savage  peoples.  Lands, 
seas,  plants,  animals,  unknown  men  have  been  all  at 
once  revealed  to  them.  So  much  knowledge  suddenly 
acquired  was  a  shock  to  all  minds;  so  much  new 
material  totally  changed  the  knowledge  of  astronomy, 
physics  and  natural  history. 

The  Europeans  had  gone  in  search  of  spices  and 
gold.  They  succeeded  to  the  full;  the  commodities 
from  India,  and  the  precious  metals  were  abundant  in 
Europe;  pepper,  cinnamon  and  sugar  were  no  longer 
reserved  for  the  tables  of  the  rich.  Gold  and  silver 
began  to  disappear  from  Europe  about  the  fifteenth 
century;  there  had  been  very  little  produced  during 
the  Middle  Ages,  and  the  European  merchants  having 
nothing  to  offer  the  Orientals  in  exchange  for  their 
spices  and  stuffs  had  taken  to  them  from  time  to  time 
the  accumulated  treasures  of  antiquity.  The  mines 
of  America,  having  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Span- 
iards, put  more  of  the  precious  metals  into  circulation 
in  Europe  than  had  ever  been  seen  there.  Silver 
declined  to  one-fourth  of  its  value,  that  is  to  say,  all 
commodities  were  sold  at  a  price  four  times  greater 
than  ever  before,  and  commerce  and  industry  could 
dispose  of  four  times  more  capital.     Then  from  one 


250  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

end  of  the  earth  to  the  other  was  established  the  sys- 
tematic circulation  of  silver,  which  is  still  going  on 
today:  America  produces  it,  Europe  takes  it,  carries 
it  to  Asia,  and  receives  in  exchange  the  produce  of 
the  Orient. 

The  spices  passed  through  the  hands  of  the  Portu- 
guese, gold  and  silver  passed  through  the  hands  of 
the  Spaniards.  These  two  peoples  were  the  first  to 
be  enriched;  the  King  of  Spain  was,  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  the  most  powerful  prince  in  Europe.  At  the 
end  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  profits  of  the  world's 
commerce  belonged  to  Holland. 

During  the  Middle  Ages  the  commodities  of  Asia 
arrived  in  Europe  by  way  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea; 
the  great  commercial  cities  were  then  the  cities  of 
Italy  (Venice,  Genoa,  Florence)  and  of  central  Ger- 
many (Augsburg,  Ratisbon,  Cologne).  The  discov- 
ery of  a  route  to  the  Indies  by  way  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  changed  the  highway  of  commerce.  Hence- 
forth commerce  was  carried  on  upon  the  ocean, 
and  the  great  cities  were  the  ports  of  the  ocean, 
at  first  Lisbon,  later  Amsterdam,  Bordeaux,  Nantes 
and  the  ports  of  England.  The  cities  of  Ger- 
many and  Italy  fell  asleep  in  their  solitude.  The 
commercial  nations  were  no  longer  the  Italians  and 
the  Germans,  but  the  Portuguese,1  the  Dutch,  the 
French  and  the  English. 

America  contained  many  plants  unknown  up  to 
that  time,  maize,  tobacco,  the  potato,  cacao,  from  which 

1  In  Spain  no  port  arrived  at  any  importance;  the  crown  of 
Castile,  for  which  America  had  been  discovered,  had  no  port 
but  Seville.  Spain  was  satisfied  to  get  silver  from  the  American 
mines,  and  had  little  commerce. 


INVENTIONS   AND   DISCOVERIES  251 

chocolate  is  made,  vanilla,  the  dye-woods  of  Brazil, 
the  cactus  on  which  lives  an  insect  which  furnishes 
cochineal,  the  pineapple,  the  Jerusalem  artichoke,  the 
dahlia  (from  Mexico),  the  nasturtium  (from  Peru). 
These  plants  penetrated  everywhere  into  Europe;  the 
potato  became  the  "bread  of  the  poor."  Other  plants 
of  Asiatic  origin  and  imported  by  the  Arabs  into  Sicily 
and  Spain,  were  soon  acclimated  in  the  New  World. 
Cotton,  sugar  cane,  coffee,  have  succeeded  so  well  in 
the  colonies  of  America,  Africa  and  Oceanica  that  we 
go  to  these  countries  today  in  order  to  secure  these 
products.  They  are  no  longer  Asiatic  commodities, 
but  colonial  merchandise."  The  new  knowledge, 
the  change  in  the  highway  of  commerce,  the  pros- 
perity of  the  Oceanic  ports  and  of  the  western  nations, 
the  abundance  of  spices  and  of  precious  metals,  the 
wealth  of  the  King  of  Spain,  the  new  culture  intro- 
duced into  Europe,  and  the  old  cultures  propagated 
in  America,  these  were  the  consequences  of  the  dis- 
coveries as  they  were  perceived  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. Others  were  evident  later,  and  of  these  no  one 
had  dreamed.  * 

The  Portuguese  and  the  Spaniards  had  divided  the 
New  World  among  themselves  for  the  purpose  of 
exploiting  it,  not  to  populate  it;  they  drew  all  the 
silver  from  it  that  they  could,  but  sent  very  few 
colonists  to  settle  there.  No  one  suspected  that  in 
two  centuries  a  part  of  the  Old  World,  India,  would 
become  a  European  province,  and  that  the  New 
World  was  going  to  found  a  new  Europe  very  much 
larger  than  the  old  one,  a  new  Spain,  a  new  France, 
a   new    Holland,    a   new    Portugal    (Brazil),    a   new 


252  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

England,  and  that  each  colony  would  be  some  day  a 
nation. 

Like  the  great  inventions  (gunpowder  and  printing), 
the  great  discoveries  have  but  slowly  produced  their 
most  important  results.  Perhaps  they  have  not  yet 
produced  all  of  them. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

STRUGGLE   BETWEEN   THE   HOUSE    OF   FRANCE 
AND  THE  HOUSE  OF  AUSTRIA 

ITALY   AT   THE   CLOSE    OF   THE   MIDDLE 

AGES 

The  Condottieri. — All  the  cities  of  Italy  made  war 
upon  each  other.  There  came  a  time  when  they  no 
longer  had  enough  inhabitants  from  which  to  recruit 
their  army.  They  negotiated  with  army  contractors. 
The  condottiere  (the  mercenary)  took  it  upon  himself, 
for  a  certain  sum,  to  form  a  troop  of  soldiers,  to  com- 
mand and  to  support  them.  These  soldiers  by  profes- 
sion, recruited  among  the  adventurers  from  all  lands, 
passed  from  one  city  to  another,  according  as  they 
found  it  to  their  advantage.  They  had  not  even,  like 
the  Swiss  and  the  lansquenets,  the  honesty  to  fight  well 
for  the  one  who  paid  them.  The  condottieri  of  the  two 
opposing  armies  agreed  not  to  injure  each  other,  a 
battle  was  nothing  more  than  a  parade.  There  were 
"wars  which  began  without  fear,  were  carried  on  with- 
out danger,  and  which  ended  without  damage" 
(Machiavelli). 

The  Tyrants. — After  two  centuries  of  revolutions 
the  greater  number  of  Italians  were  disgusted  with 
self-government.  Some  of  the  towns  decided  to  choose 
a  prince,  who  would  govern  them  in  a  masterful  man- 

253 


254  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

ner.  In  1308  a  grand  council  assembled  at  Padua  to 
advise  together  in  regard  to  the  means  necessary  to 
save  the  fatherland.  A  jurisconsult  arose  and  said: 
"We  possess  the  remedy.  We  have  abused  the  ple- 
biscitum,  and  the  republic  is  hastening  to  its  ruin. 
Everything  demands  a  prince,  the  members  obey  the 
head,  the  herds  follow  their  leader,  let  us  choose  a 
prince  who  will  govern  the  state  according  to  his  own 
will,  who  will  make  the  laws,  and  be  our  seignior." 
Those  present  at  once  proclaimed  Giacomo  du  Carrara 
lord  of  Padua,  and  the  people,  stamping  with  enthu- 
siasm, ratified  the  choice. 

The  towns  which  did  not  give  masters  to  themselves 
finally  became  subject  to  some  one ;  some  were  subju- 
gated by  the  chief  of  their  condottieri,  for  example, 
Milan  by  Sforza;  others  were  conquered  by  the  more 
powerful  cities,  Venice,  Florence  and  Milan. 

The  Commercial  Republics. — Three  cities  preserved 
their  constitutions,  three  great  commercial  cities,  Flor- 
ence, Genoa  and  Venice.  Florence  a  city  of  cloth 
merchants  and  bankers,  conquered  the  other  cities  of 
Tuscany,  and  became  the  capital  of  a  state  which  will- 
ingly obeyed  a  family  of  rich  bankers,  the  Medici. 
Genoa  and  Venice  were  the  two  great  ports  of  the 
Mediterranean  :x  their  merchants  went  to  Alexandria 
in  search  of  the  spices  and  the  silken  stuffs  of  the 
Orient,  they  sold  there  the  young  boys  and  girls  whom 
they  had  bought  from  the  mountaineers  of  the  Cau- 
casus along  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea.     Both  Genoa 

1  There  had  been  another  great  maritime  city,  Pisa,  but  in 
1285  the  Genoese  had  taken  it,  and  had  filled  up  its  port.  Those 
commercial  cities  bore  a  deadly  hatred  toward  each  other  and 
carried  on  a  war  of  extermination. 


HOUSES   OF   FRANCE   AND   AUSTRIA  255 

and  Venice  had  a  doge  (duke)  ;  but  the  power  had 
remained  in  the  council  of  the  nobles.  Venice,  with 
a  much  stronger  organization  than  that  of  Genoa,  had 
a  great  council,  which  none  but  the  members  of  the 
ancient  families  could  enter;  the  "Golden  Book,"  where 
the  nobles  were  registered,  had  been  closed  in  the 
fourteenth  century.  A  secret  council,  chosen  for  one 
year,  and  called  the  council  of  ten,  decided  upon  all 
affairs  of  state,  could  even  condemn  and  cause  to  be 
secretly  executed  any  one  whom  it  considered  danger- 
ous. As  for  the  doge  he  was  hardly  more  than  a 
figurehead,  appearing  at  the  public  fetes  clothed  in 
magnificent  robes.  Two  doges  who  tried  to  govern 
were  condemned  and  beheaded. 

Venice  had  many  war-galleys  rowed  by  oarsmen, 
who  had  made  a  conquest  of  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic 
and  the  islands  of  the  Archipelago.  It  had  mercenary 
soldiers,  who  had  conquered  all  the  Italian  cities  as 
far  as  the  river  Adige.  It  was  from  the  thirteenth 
century,  "seignior  of  three-eighths  of  the  Greek  Em- 
pire" ;  in  the  fifteenth  century  it  was  ruler  of  all 
Venetia.  It  exploited  its  possessions  as  a  domain ;  the 
nobles  sent  from  Venice  governed  alone  and  levied 
tribute,  the  Venetian  merchants  only  had  the  right  to 
sell  and  buy  in  the  markets  of  the  subject  towns. 

Venice  was  at  that  period  the  richest  city  in  Europe, 
and  the  senate  was  determined  that  it  should  be  the 
most  splendid  ;  for  the  church  of  Saint  Mark,  the  rarest 
marbles  had  been  ordered,  and  the  nobles  had  built 
for  themselves  princely  mansions  along  the  lagoons 
and  in  the  water.  Today  Venice  is  a  dilapidated  and 
deserted  city,  but  it  is  still  a  city  of  palaces. 


256  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

The  Weakness  of  Italy — Italy,  as  well  as  Germany, 
had  been  a  part  of  the  empire  which  represented  uni- 
versal monarchy  in  the  Middle  Ages.  Like  Germany 
it  had  not  been  able  to  become  a  nation.  Each  seignior, 
each  town  had  become  a  sovereign;  then  the  most 
powerful  had  subjugated  the  feeble,  and  there  remained 
in  Italy  but  a  small  number  of  states.  The  principal 
ones  were : 

The  Kingdom  of  Sicily,  founded  by  the  Normans, 
and  which  had  passed  over  successively  to  the  emperors 
of  the  Hohenstaufens,  to  the  princes  of  Anjou  and  to 
the  kings  of  Aragon;  it  included  Sicily  and  southern 
Italy. 

Tuscany,  subject  to  the  City  of  Florence,  and  gov- 
erned by  a  family  of  bankers,  the  Medici. 

The  Duchy  of  Milan,  formed  from  countries  sub- 
dued by  the  City  of  Milan. 

Venetia,  formed  from  the  countries  subdued  by 
Venice. 

The  possessions  of  the  pope,  which  comprised  all 
of  central  Italy,  except  Tuscany. 

The  Duchy  of  Savoy,  which  included  the  larger 
part  of  Piedmont. 

The  territory  of  the  Republic  of  Genoa. 

None  of  these  petty  states  were  strong  enough  to 
put  the  others  into  subjection  and  to  organize  in  Italy 
a  monarchy  like  the  kingdoms  of  France  and  Spain. 
In  the  fifteenth  century  each  one  of  them  was  suffi- 
ciently well  organized  to  defend  itself  against  its  neigh- 
bors, and  the  dominant  idea  of  the  men  of  Italy  was 
to  maintain  the  balance  of  power  in  Italy. 

These  states  were  rich  and  prosperous;  no  people 


HOUSES   OF   FRANCE  AND   AUSTRIA  257 

of  Europe  was  at  that  time  as  well  taught  and  as  well 
policed  as  were  the  Italians.  But  they  had  no  military 
force.  The  condottieri,  who  carried  on  wars  in  the 
service  of  the  different  Italian  states  were  not  in  a  con- 
dition to  resist  a  good  army.  They  had  the  habit  of 
fighting  without  hurting  each  other ;  they  had  a  miser- 
able artillery  service,  cannon  drawn  by  oxen  and  firing 
stone  projectiles.  Italy  was  thus  at  the  mercy  of  the 
kings,  who  were  her  neighbors. 

ITALIAN    WARS 

The  King  of  France  in  Italy — The  two  most  power- 
ful kings  of  western  Europe,  the  King  of  France  and 
the  King  of  Spain,  after  having  succeeded  in  establish- 
ing their  power  in  the  interior  of  their  kingdoms, 
undertook  to  extend  it  without  at  the  expense  of  Italy, 
which  seemed  to  them  easy  of  conquest.  The  King  of 
Spain  had  already  encroached  upon  Italy  from  the 
south;  as  King  of  Aragon  he  owned  Sicily  (since 
1288). 

The  King  of  France  owned  no  Italian  territory, 
but  Charles  VIII.  pretended  that  as  heir  to  the  counts 
of  Anjou  he  was  the  legitimate  King  of  Naples ;  his 
successor,  Louis  XII.,  Duke  of  Orleans,  pretended 
besides  that  being  a  descendant  of  a  princess  of  the 
Visconti  family,  he  was  the  legitimate  heir  to  the 
Duchy  of  Milan,  which  the  Sforza  had  usurped.  What 
gave  force  to  these  pretensions  was  that  they  were 
supported  by  a  strong  army.  The  states  of  Italy  were 
incapable  of  resisting  either  French  or  Spaniards. 
The  King  of  France  got  the  start  of  his  rival.    Charles 


258  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

VIII.  descended  upon  Italy  with  an  army  of  knights, 
6,000  archers,  7,000  cross-bowmen,  8,000  Swiss  armed 
with  pikes  or  halberds  and  150  cannon  drawn  by 
horses.  He  met  no  resistance;  the  Duke  of  Milan, 
through  jealousy  of  the  King  of  Naples,  himself  had 
called  upon  Charles  VIII.  The  French  were  received 
with  enthusiasm  throughout  all  of  Italy,  and  without 
a  battle  Charles  VIII.  took  possession  of  the  whole 
Kingdom  of  Naples.  But  soon  the  Italian  states  formed 
a  league  against  him,  and  he  was  obliged  to  fight  for 
passage  on  returning  to  France  (1495).  This  first 
occupation  of  the  Kingdom  of  Naples  lasted  only  two 
years. 

Louis  XII.  again  began  the  conquest,  but  this  time 
he  attacked  first  the  Duchy  of  Milan,  which  he  occu- 
pied without  a  combat;  the  duke  was  delivered  up  to 
him  by  his  own  troops.  Then  he  turned  to  the  King- 
dom of  Naples,  which,  after  the  departure  of  Charles 
VIII.,  had  taken  back  its  king.  The  King  of  Spain, 
Ferdinand,  offered  to  join  with  him  in  the  conquest 
and  to  divide  the  spoil.  This  was  done.  But  the  two 
rivals  could  not  long  agree.  The  French  and  Spanish 
fought  each  other  in  the  conquered  country,  the  French 
were  expelled,  and  the  King  of  Spain  remained  sole 
master  of  the  whole  Kingdom  of  Naples  ( 1 505 ) . 

Italy  found  herself  at  that  time  encroached  upon  at 
the  two  extremities  and  by  two  foreign  kings,  the 
King  of  Spain  on  the  south,  the  King  of  France  on  the 
north.  The  country  was  filled  with  knights  and  for- 
eign foot  soldiers,  who,  following  the  custom  of  the 
times,  lived  at  the  expense  of  the  country,  and  often 
insulted  or  maltreated  the  inhabitants.     These  misfor- 


HOUSES   OF   FRANCE   AND   AUSTRIA  259 

tunes  awakened  the  patriotism  of  the  Italians,  just  as 
the  English  invasion  had  aroused  French  patriotism. 
The  Italians  felt  themselves  more  learned,  more  civil- 
ized than  their  invaders;  they  groaned  at  seeing  their 
fatherland  subject  to  these  "Barbarians,"  for  so  they 
called  the  French  and  the  Spaniards.  "Turn  out  the 
Barbarians!"  said  Pope  Julius  II.  It  was  he  who 
organized  a  general  league  against  the  King  of  France, 
who  then  appeared  the  most  powerful  and  most  dan- 
gerous of  the  two  kings,  for  he  held  the  Milanese  coun- 
try, he  had  occupied  Genoa,  and  could,  if  he  so  pleased, 
send  armies  into  Italy. 

The  Italian  states  remained  independent,  Florence, 
Venice,  the  pope  were  not  strong  enough  to  struggle 
alone  against  the  King  of  France.  The  pope  had  two 
foreign  sovereigns  enter  into  the  league,  the  King  of 
Spain  and  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  and  the  Swiss,  a 
small  nation,  but  at  that  time  very  powerful,  because 
it  furnished  the  best  foot-soldiers  in  Europe;  he  even 
employed  "spiritual  arms,"  he  excommunicated  Louis 
XII.  and  his  partisans  (1511).  "The  Holy  League" 
succeeded  in  driving  the  French  from  Italy;  the  Duke 
of  Milan  was  reinstated  in  his  duchy;  the  pope  made 
himself  master  of  all  the  towns  of  central  Italy,  and 
organized  the  "States  of  the  Church"  (1513). 

The  King  of  Spain  in  Italy — But  the  Italians  gained 
nothing  by  being  rid  of  the  French.  They  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Spaniards.  The  King  of  Spain, 
already  master  of  the  whole  of  southern  Italy,  wanted 
to  take  the  place  that  the  King  of  France  had  lost  in 
the  north,  and  under  pretext  of  protecting  the  Duke 
of  Milan  against  the  attacks  of  the  French,  he  occupied 


260  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

his  duchy,  and  finally  remained  there  as  the  master. 
The  pope,  Clement  VII.,  tried  to  organize  a  league 
against  the  Spaniards,  as  Julius  II.  had  done  for  the 
expulsion  of  the  French.  He  united  in  this  coalition 
Venice,  Florence,  the  Duke  of  Milan,  the  Swiss  and 
two  foreign  kings,  the  King  of  France  and  the  King 
of  England  (1526).  "This  war,"  said  his  minister, 
"is  going  to  decide  the  deliverance  of  the  servitude 
of  Italy."  The  King  of  Spain,  Charles  V.,  who  was 
at  the  same  time  Emperor  of  Germany,  gathered  an 
army  of  German  lansquenets,  which,  crossing  through 
Italy,  went  and  attacked  the  pope  himself  in  his  capi- 
tal. Rome  was  taken  by  assault  and  pillaged  for 
several  months  (1527).  The  King  of  Spain  was  from 
that  time  master  of  Italy.  When  the  family  of  the 
Dukes  of  Milan  became  extinct,  he  took  possession 
of  the  Milanais.  The  Medici  of  Florence,  who  de- 
stroyed the  ancient  constitution  and  took  the  title  of 
Dukes  of  Tuscany,  became  the  submissive  allies  of  the 
King  of  Spain.  Save  the  Republic  of  Venice,  all  the 
small  states  of  Italy  remained  dependencies  of  the 
Spanish  monarchy. 

Such  was  the  result  of  the  Italian  wars. 

STRUGGLE    AGAINST   THE   HOUSE   OF 
AUSTRIA 

The  House  of  Austria. — The  wars  in  Italy  had  com- 
plicated the  rivalry  between  the  two  foreign  sovereigns, 
who  wanted  to  conquer  that  country,  the  King  of 
France  and  the  King  of  Spain. 

The  King  of  France  had  a  richer  country,  with  a 


HOUSES   OF   FRANCE   AND   AUSTRIA  261 

larger  and  more  civilized  population  and  a  better 
organized  army.  But  the  King  of  Spain  became  more 
powerful  because  he  was  at  the  same  time  sovereign 
in  other  lands. 

At  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  there  were  five 
great  reigning  families  in  Europe :  those  of  France, 
England,  Spain,  Austria  and  Burgundy.  The  house  of 
Burgundy,  even  after  the  defeat  of  Charles  the  Bold, 
was  in  possession  of  all  the  Low  Countries,  the  richest 
in  the  world,  and  of  Franche-Comte.  The  house  of 
Austria  had  all  the  German  provinces  of  the  Alps 
(Austria,  Styria,  Carinthia,  Carniola,  Tyrol),  and  it 
was  from  this  family  that  the  electoral  princes  were 
in  the  habit  of  choosing  the  Emperor  of  Germany. 

The  houae  of  Austria  was  feeble  and  poor  until  the 
end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  It  strengthened  itself  by 
marriages  with  the  heiresses  of  the  greatest  European 
families.  A  poet  of  the  Austrian  court  had  summed 
up  this  policy  in  two  Latin  verses : 

"Let  others  make  war;  but  thou,  fortunate  Austria, 
marry,  for  that  which  Mars  (the  god  of  war)  gives 
to  others,  Venus  (goddess  of  love)  gives  to  thee." 
The  Emperor  Frederick,  "of  the  empty  pocket,"  mar- 
ried his  son  Maximilian  to  Mary  of  Burgundy,  daugh- 
ter of  Charles  the  Bold,  and  the  heiress  of  the  Low 
Countries.  Maximilian,  in  his  turn,  married  his  son 
Philip  the  Handsome  to  Jane,  daughter  of  Ferdinand 
of  Aragon  and  of  Isabella  of  Castile,  heiress  of  all 
the  kingdoms  of  Spain  and  of  the  Kingdom  of  Naples. 
Their  eldest  son,  Charles,  found  himself  at  the 
same  time  King  of  Spain,  and  of  Naples,  Archduke 
of  Austria,    seignior  of   the  Low   Countries   and   of 


262  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

Franche-Comte.  His  brother  Ferdinand  married  the 
heiress  of  the  kingdoms  of  Bohemia  and  Hungary,  and 
became  in  1526  king  of  those  two  countries.  Then 
the  house  of  Austria  reigned  in  the  two  extremities 
of  Europe. 

Rivalry  of  Francis  I.  and  Charles  V. — Francis  I., 
King  of  France,  and  Charles,  King  of  Spain,  had  come 
to  the  throne  at  about  the  same  time.  From  the  very- 
beginning  of  their  reigns  they  were  rivals  at  several 
points.  The  Emperor  Maximilian  had  just  died,  and 
each  wanted  to  be  chosen  in  his  place.  Each  wanted 
to  be  master  in  Italy.  Each  wanted  to  make  an  alli- 
ance with  Henry  VIII.,  King  of  England. 

It  was  the  King  of  Spain  who  had  the  ascendency 
everywhere.  Charles  won  over  to  his  side  the  electoral 
princes  of  Germany,  who  did  not  care  to  obey  the 
King  of  France,  and  he  was  chosen  Emperor  of  Ger- 
many; henceforth  he  was  called  Charles  V.  He  won 
over  Cardinal  Wolsey,  prime  minister  of  the  King  of 
England,  who  persuaded  his  master  to  become  an  ally 
of  Charles  V. 

He  began  a  war  with  Francis  I.,  who  had  conquered 
the  Milanais  in  the  victory  of  Marignano  (15 15); 
after  a  ten-years'  war  he  took  Francis  I.  prisoner  at 
the  battle  of  Pavia,  and  obliged  him  to  sign  a  treaty  by 
which  he  renounced  all  pretensions  to  the  countries  in 
Italy  (1526). 

The  pope  tried  to  stop  him  by  forming  a  league 
against  him.  Charles  V.  took  Rome  by  assault,  and 
obliged  the  pope  again  to  become  his  ally  (1530). 

Charles  V.  became  the  most  powerful  sovereign  in 
Europe;  he  then  undertook  to  re-establish  the  power 


HOUSES  OF  FRANCE  AND  AUSTRIA  2G3 

of  the  emperor  in  Germany,  and  to  himself  regulate 
the  religious  questions  which  then  disturbed  the  Christ- 
ian world.  He  did  not  want  to  break  with  the  pope, 
as  did  the  partisans  of  Luther,  but  he  wished  to  have 
a  general  reform  take  place  in  the  church  through  a 
council  which  he  would  direct.  He  prevailed  upon 
the  pope  to  convoke  a  council  of  all  Christendom,  not 
in  Italy,  but  at  Trent  in  the  Tyrol,  in  a  country  where 
he  was  master. 

It  was  said  at  that  time  that  Charles  V.  aspired  to 
the  establishment  of  a  universal  monarchy,  that  is,  he 
would  govern  all  Europe  either  directly  or  by  making 
all  the  other  sovereigns  submit  to  his  authority.  This 
project  created  for  him  several  adversaries.  The  prin- 
cipal one  was  the  King  of  France,  Francis  I.,  who 
had  not  given  up  the  hope  of  reconquering  the 
Milanais,  and  who  had  an  interest  in  weakening  the 
power  of  the  house  of  Austria,  whose  states  sur- 
rounded his  kingdom  on  three  sides.  Against  a  sov- 
eign  as  powerful  as  Charles  V.  he  had  need  of  allies. 
He  had  hoped  to  find  some  in  Italy,  but  the  petty  * 
Italian  states,  menaced  by  the  Spanish  garrisons  of 
Xaples  and  of  the  Milanais,  dared  not  risk  opposi- 
tion to  the  King  of  Spain.  He  sought  an  alliance 
with  the  King  of  England,  who  had  just  repudiated  his 
marriage  with  Catherine,  the  aunt  of  Charles  V.;  but 
Henry  VIII.  was  not  a  very  safe  ally,  ancf  was  of  little 
use,  for  he  was  busy  with  the  affairs  of  his  own  king- 
dom, and  had  no  army. 

Francis  I.  determined  on  an  alliance  with  the  enemies 
of  Charles  V.,  the  Sultan  of  Turkey,  Solyman,  who 
had  just  conquered  Hungary,  and  the  Lutheran  princes 


264  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

of  Germany,  who  had  revolted  because  the  emperor 
wanted  to  prevent  them  from  carrying  out  the  Refor- 
mation in  their  own  territories.  He  sent  secret  agents 
to  the  Sultan,  in  order  to  urge  him  to  make  war  against 
Charles  V.,  and  in  1534  he  concluded  a  treaty  with 
him,  in  which  they  agreed  together  to  attack  Italy. 
He  encouraged  the  Lutheran  princes,  and  at  Schmal- 
kalden,  in  1535,  he  signed  a  treaty  with  them  whereby 
he  pledged  himself  to  furnish  them  with  money  and 
troops.  These  two  alliances  of  a  Catholic  king  with 
the  Sultan  of  the  infidels  and  with  heretic  princes 
caused  a  great  scandal.  The  Turks  were  at  that  time 
a  formidable  enemy  for  all  Christendom;  their  armies 
had  penetrated  even  into  Austria;  the  pirates  of  Al- 
giers and  Tunis,  who  called  themselves  subjects  of 
the  Sultan,  scoured  the  Mediterranean,  captured  ships, 
ravaged  the  shores  of  Italy  and  of  Spain,  and  brought 
back  thousands  of  Christian  captives,  whom  they  sold 
as  slaves,  or  whom  they  forced  to  work  in  their  gal- 
leys. As  for  the  Lutheran  princes,  they  were  in  open 
revolt  against  the  pope,  whom  they  called  Anti-Christ. 

It  was  with  such  allies  that  Francis  I.  again  began 
the  conflict.  Charles  V.  was  able  to  put  himself  for- 
ward as  the  defender  of  the  Christians  against  the 
power  of  the  Moslems,  and  as  the  protector  of  the 
Catholic  religion  against  the  heretics.  A  fleet  of  Mos- 
lem pirates,  together  with  a  French  fleet,  came  down 
upon  the  coast  at  Nice,  and  Francis  I.  ordered  the 
inhabitants  of  Toulon  to  give  up  their  city  to  the 
pirates  for  their  use  as  winter  quarters  (1543). 

The  war  lasted  from  1536  to  1546  (with  an  interrup- 
tion) ;  it  had  no  result  of  any  importance.    Francis  I. 


HOUSES   OF   FRANCE'  AND   AUSTRIA  265 

made  peace,  and  abandoned  his  allies.  The  Sultan 
continued  the  war  and  remained  master  of  Hun- 
gary. The  Lutheran  princes,  left  alone  to  face  the 
emperor,  were  conquered;  their  chief,  the  Elector  of 
Saxony,  was  made  prisoner  (1547),  and  lost  his 
office,  which  the  emperor  transferred  to  his  cousin, 
Maurice  of  Saxony. 

Defeat  of  Charles  V — Charles  V.  was  for  a  time 
master  of  Germany  and  arbitrator  of  Christendom ;  he 
then  ordered  the  Council  of  Trent  to  resume  its  sit- 
tings, which  had  been  interrupted  by  the  war,  and 
himself  pretended  to  regulate  all  religious  questions. 

But  the  German  princes  made  a  secret  alliance  with 
the  new  King  of  France,  Henry  II.,  and  suddenly,  in 
the  middle  of  winter,  an  army  commanded  by  Maurice 
of  Saxony  almost  surprised  Charles  V.  in  the  Tyrol 
and  dispersed  the  Council  of  Trent.  In  this  war  the 
King  of  France  presented  himself  as  defender  of  the 
"liberty  of  Germany,"  that  is,  of  the  independence  of 
the  princes  and  of  the  councils  of  the  German  towns, 
which  were  menaced  by  the  emperor ;  he  profited  by  it, 
in  occupying  the  three  bishoprics,  Metz,  Toul,  Verdun, 
which  since  the  tenth  century  had  been  dependencies 
of  the  empire.  Charles  V.  resignedly  granted  a  peace 
to  the  Lutheran  princes,  who  reserved  the  right  to 
themselves  of  regulating  the  religion  of  their  subjects 
(peace  of  Augsburg,  1555).  He  tried  to  retake 
Metz  from  the  King  of  France ;  but  after  a  long  siege, 
where  half  of  his  army  perished  (1554),  he  withdrew, 
and  finally  concluded  a  truce  with  Henry  II.  (truce 
of  Vaucelle,  1556). 

Charles  V.,  old  and  in  ill  health,  abdicated.     The 


2G6  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

states  of  the  house  of  Austria  were  divided  into  two 
groups :  the  son  of  Charles  V.,  Philip  II.,  had  Spain 
and  the  colonies,  the  Low  Countries  and  Franche- 
Comte,  the  domains  of  Italy  (Naples  and  Milanais)  ; 
his  brother  Ferdinand  had  all  the  German  provinces; 
he  was  already  King  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  and 
was  chosen  Emperor.  But  the  two  branches  of  the 
house  of  Austria  continued  to  be  allies. 

The  branch  in  Germany  was  much  less  powerful 
than  the  one  in  Spain.  It  had  to  wage  an  incessant 
war  against  the  Turks,  who  had  taken  away  from  it 
almost  all  of  Hungary;  in  the  other  provinces  the 
seigniors  were  not  very  obedient,  the  head  of  the 
Austrian  branch  was  without  money  and  without  an 
army. 

Struggle  Between  Philip  II.   and  Henry  II The 

alliance  of  the  King  of  France  with  the  Lutheran 
princes  of  Germany  had  sufficed  to  destroy  in  Ger- 
many the  power  of  Austria.  But  she  was  much  more 
firmly  established  in  Italy. 

The  pope,  Paul  IV.,  a  Neapolitan  seignior,  chosen 
in  1555,  detested  the  Spaniards,  and  wanted  to  drive 
them  from  Italy.  He  declared  that  Philip  II.  had 
forfeited  the  crown  of  Naples,  and  gave  it  to  a  French 
prince,  the  Duke  of  Guise,  he  also  made  an  alliance 
with  the  French  king,  Henry  II.,  who  was  to  conquer 
the  Milanais.  He  himself  gathered  a  small  army, 
which  he  sent  into  the  Kingdom  of  Naples,  while  the 
French  commenced  a  war  in  the  Low  Countries.  But 
Philip  II.  had  just  married  Mary,  Queen  of  England, 
and  he  had  in  his  service  the  troops  of  Spain, 
England,  the  Low  Countries,  and  he  had  two  skilful 


HOUSES   OF   FRANCE  AND  AUSTRIA  267 

generals,  the  Duke  of  Savoy  in  the  Low  Countries, 
and  the  Duke  of  Alva  in  the  Kingdom  of  Naples. 

In  Italy  the  Duke  of  Alva  allowed  the  French  army 
under  the  Duke  of  Guise  to  become  exhausted  from 
illness,  then  he  invaded  the  papal  states,  besieged  Rome, 
and  forced  the  pope  to  make  peace. 

In  the  Low  Countries  Philip  II.  and  the  Duke  of 
Savoy,  with  an  army  of  50,000  men,  invaded  Picardy, 
besieged  Saint-Quentin,  and  put  to  rout  the  French 
army  which  had  come  to  relieve  the  town.  They  did 
not  profit  by  this  victory;  but  Henry  II.,  disturbed 
by  the  progress  of  Protestantism,  decided  to  ask  for 
peace.  By  the  treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis  (1559), 
the  King  of  France  gave  up  all  that  he  had  conquered. 
The  King  of  Spain  remained  master  of  Italy. 

The  rivalry  of  the  two  sovereigns  was  suspended 
during  the  religious  wars,  which  occupied  the  King 
of  France,  and  during  the  revolt  in  the  Low  Countries, 
which  claimed  all  the  attention  of  the  King  of  Spain. 
It  was  to  begin  again  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, when  internal  peace  was  assured. 


CHAPTER  XIX 
THE    RENAISSANCE 

ORIGIN    OF    THE    RENAISSANCE 

What  is  Meant  by  Renaissance. — From  the  twelfth 
century  there  had  always  been  in  France,  Germany, 
and  especially  in  Italy,  architects,  sculptors,  painters 
and  poets.  But  their  works,  even  the  most  remarkable, 
if  one  compares  them  with  the  works  of  the  Greeks, 
appear  awkward,  bizarre,  imperfect.  Faces  are  often 
very  lifelike;  but  bodies  are  almost  always  slender 
and  out  of  proportion,  the  legs  and  the  arms  are 
too  thin  and  too  long.  In  the  pictures  the  perspec- 
tive is  false;  the  objects  which  the  painter  wanted 
to  represent  in  the  background  are  as  near  as  those 
which  he  wished  to  represent  in  the  foreground.  In 
poetry  the  verses  are  spun  out,  monotonous  and  in- 
sipid. Neither  the  artists  nor  the  writers  understood 
their  professions  well  enough  to  do  irreproachable 
work,  and  they  were  not  well  enough  acquainted  with 
the  works  of  the  ancients  to  be  inspired  by  them. 

Little  by  little,  however,  the  sculptors  and  the  paint- 
ers became  more  skilful,  and  made  the  acquaintance 
of  the  masterpieces  of  antiquity.  Finally,  from  the 
beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  there  appeared  in 
great  numbers  writers,  sculptors,  and  especially  paint- 
ers of  extraordinary  genius,  whose  works  have  not 


THE   RENAISSANCE  269 

been  surpassed.  This  florescence  of  great  artists  is 
what  we  have  agreed  to  call  the  Renaissance.  These 
brilliant  men,  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  Raphael,  Michael 
Angelo,  caused  their  less  illustrious  predecessors  to  be 
forgotten.  The  historians  of  the  following  centuries 
believed  that  art,  dead  "during  the  night  of  the  Middle 
Ages"  (as  they  said),  had  been  suddenly  resurrected  in 
the  sixteenth  century.  Ever  since  the  history  of  art  has 
been  known  we  know  that  the  Renaissance  was  only  a 
continuation  of  an  artistic  movement  begun  many  cen- 
turies before ;  what  we  call  the  Renaissance  is  only  the 
moment  when  the  art  of  the  Middle  Ages,  renewed  by 
the  study  of  the  ancients,  arrived  at  its  period  of  per- 
fection. 

This  moment  is  not  the  same  in  all  countries;  the 
Italians,  more  advanced  than  the  others,  first  entered 
the  period  of  the  Renaissance,  the  Dutch  came  last, 
a  century  and  a  half  later.  The  Renaissance  in  Italy 
began  in  Florence  about  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, and  ended  in  Venice  at  the  close  of  the  sixteenth ; 
it  appeared  in  France  and  in  southern  Germany  in  the 
first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  in  Spain  and  in 
England  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth,  in  Hol- 
land about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
There  was  no  Renaissance  in  Northern  Germany  and 
in  the  Scandinavian  countries. 

The  Precursors  of  the  Renaissance  in  Italy.— In 
Italy  two  great  poets,  Dante  and  Petrarch,  and  a  great 
prose  writer,  Boccaccio,  belong  to  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, and  one  is  often  embarrassed  to  know  whether 
they  should  be  classed  as  belonging  to  the  Middle 
Ages,  or  to  the  Renaissance.     Dante  is  regarded  even 


270  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

today  as  the  greatest  poet  of  Italy,  the  prose  of  Boc- 
caccio is  considered  the  purest  and  the  most  perfect  in 
literature,  and  at  that  time  Petrarch  had  already  that 
enthusiasm  for  antiquity  which  all  the  men  of  the 
Renaissance  possessed. 

About  the  same  time  many  artists  celebrated  in  their 
country,  sculptors  like  Niccolo  Giovanni  and  Andrea 
of  Pisa  in  the  thirteenth  century,  Ghiberti  and  Dona- 
tello,  and  architects  like  Brunelleschi,  in  the  fifteenth, 
painters  like  Cimabue  in  the  thirteenth  century,  Giotto 
in  the  fourteenth,  Masaccio  and  Ghirlandajo  in  the  fif- 
teenth, had  been  working  in  the  cities  of  Tuscany,  at 
Pisa  as  early  as  the  thirteenth  century,  at  Florence 
during  the  sixteenth,  and  at  Perugia  in  the  fifteenth 
century;  without  speaking  of  those  unknown  masters 
who  made  the  admirable  "Last  Judgment"  of  the  ceme- 
tery (Campo  Santo)  of  Pisa.  These  artists  are  called 
the  precursors;  they  are  the  ones  who  prepared  the 
Renaissance.  In  sculpture  and  in  architecture  already 
very  far  advanced  in  the  Middle  Ages  the  work  of 
the  precursors  is  limited  to  an  imitation  of  the  orna- 
ments, the  bas-reliefs,  the  statues  of  the  Romans,  and 
to  an  introduction  into  the  edifices  of  the  antique 
columns  and  cupolas. 

The  painters  had  more  to  do,  they  had  to  learn 
how  to  represent  the  human  body  and  how  to  observe 
the  rules  for  perspective.  The  greatest  progress  was 
made  in  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  on  the  eve 
of  the  Renaissance :  Masaccio  had  begun  to  study  geo- 
metrical perspective  and  to  apply  it  to  pictures;  the 
study  of  the  anatomy  of  the  body  was  begun  at  first 
in  the  statues  of  the  ancients.     Finally  a  new  process 


THE    RENAISSANCE  271 

was  discovered :  they  had  painted  up  to  that  time  with 
colors  mixed  either  with  water,  white  of  egg,  or  with 
wax.  Toward  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century 
it  was  found  that  colors  could  be  mixed  with  oil 
in  such  a  way  that  they  could  be  rapidly  dried:  the 
inventor  is  probably  a  Flemish1  painter,  John  of 
Bruges.  Since  that  time  there  have  been  two  methods 
of  painting,  water-color  upon  a  layer  of  fresh  plaster, 
already  known  in  the  Middle  Ages;  this  was  called 
in  Italian  painting  al  fresco  (whence  the  name  fresco)  ; 
and  oil  painting,  which  was  at  first  done  upon  wood 
(the  word  tableau,  picture,  signifies  plank),  later  upon 
canvas. 

THE    ITALIAN    RENAISSANCE 

The  Protectors  of  the  Renaissance — Italy,  at  the  end 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  was  a  soil  particularly  favor- 
able to  the  growth  of  the  arts.  The  princes  and  the 
nobles  did  not,  as  in  the  other  countries  of  Europe, 
pass  their  time  in  hunting  and  in  fighting.  The  nobles 
and  the  rich  bourgeoisie  had  a  passionate  taste  for 
beautiful  things ;  they  came  together  in  order  to  read 
verse,  they  desired  to  have  handsome  churches,  beauti- 
ful palaces,  and  fine  furniture;  and  not  only  did  they 
pay  the  artists,  but  they  esteemed  them  greatly.  While 
in  the  other  countries  the  nobles  treated  the  artists  as 
if  they  were  workmen  or  domestics,  in  Italy  the  great- 
est personages  counted  it  a  glory  and  an  honor  to  be 
surrounded  by  men  of  talent.     The  most  celebrated 

1  In  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  there  were  in  the 
rich  cities  of  Flanders  many  painters  occupied  in  making  altar 
pictures  and  in  painting  statues  of  wood  for  the  churches. 


272  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

princes,  the  Sforza  at  Milan,  the  Medici  at  Florence, 
the  popes  Julius  II.  and  Leo  X.  at  Rome,  the  dukes  of 
Urbino,  the  princes  of  Ferrara,  called  to  their  courts 
the  savants,  men  of  letters,  painters,  and  lived  with 
them  on  familiar  terms.  Lorenzo  de'  Medici  invited 
the  savants  to  his  banquets,  where  they  discussed  phil- 
osophy. Even  the  public  was  warmly  interested  in  the 
artists :  when  the  poet  Accolti  delivered  a  public  lec- 
ture at  Florence  the  people  closed  their  shops  in  order 
to  go  and  hear  him. 

However,  the  artists,  well-paid  and  honored  as  they 
were,  did  not  became  enervated  by  this  life,  which  was 
so  agreeable  and  so  easy.  Some  of  them  wandered 
from  city  to  city  in  search  of  a  protector ;  Machiavelli 
lived  miserably,  Tasso  was  driven  from  his  native  city. 
All  of  them  ran  the  risk  of  being  stabbed  by  a  knife : 
professional  ruffians  made  it  their  business  to  assas- 
sinate for  whoever  would  pay  them;  there  were  then 
no  police  in  Italy,  and  not  a  day  passed  that  some  one 
did  not  rid  himself  of  one  of  his  enemies  by  assassina- 
tion. When  Caesar  Borgia  had  the  body  of  his  brother 
thrown  into  the  water,  a  fisherman  witnessed  the  act; 
he  was  asked  why  he  had  not  been  to  apprise  the  court, 
he  answered  that  he  had  seen  more  than  a  hundred 
bodies  thrown  in  at  the  same  place  without  any  one 
ever  having  been  disturbed  by  it. 

The  life  of  the  Italian  artists  was  a  life  of  festivity 
and  adventure,  which  stimulated  the  imagination  and 
kept  the  mind  on  the  alert. 


THE   RENAISSANCE  273 


LETTERS 

Scholars  and  Humanists — The  Greek  scholars  came 
into  Italy  after  the  capture  of  Constantinople,  and 
brought  with  them  the  manuscripts  of  the  Greek 
authors.  The  manuscripts  of  the  Latin  authors  had 
been  scattered  in  the  libraries  of  the  convents  and  of 
the  princes.  Often  the  monks  did  not  take  care  of  these 
manuscripts ;  Boccaccio  relates  that  having  gone  to  the 
celebrated  abbey  of  Monte  Cassino,  one  of  the  richest 
in  manuscripts,  he  begged  a  monk  to  open  the  library 
for  him.  The  monk  showed  him  an  old  ladder,  saying: 
"Go  up,  it  is  open."  Boccaccio  found  the  treasury  with- 
out door  or  key,  and  all  the  books  covered  with  a  layer 
of  dust.  Some  had  been  torn  away  from  the  covers, 
or  were  cut  on  the  margins.  When  he  asked  why 
these  precious  books  were  so  mutilated,  he  was  an- 
swered that  the  monks,  in  order  to  gain  some  money, 
often  scraped  off  the  manuscripts  and  made  psalters  of 
them,  which  they  sold  to  children.  "And  now,"  con- 
cludes Boccaccio,  "ye  students,  wear  out  your  brains 
in  making  books."  The  admirers  of  antiquity  then 
began  to  visit  the  libraries  of  the  convents  in  Italy 
and  in  Germany  in  order  to  collect  the  manuscripts 
which  had  escaped  destruction.  In  this  manner  the 
letters  of  Cicero  and  the  works  of  Tacitus  were 
saved ;  only  oVie  copy  of  them  remained,  and  if  their 
devotees  had  not  arrived  in  time  to  make  a  transcript 
of  them,  these  works  would  have  perished  as  so  many 
other  books  of  antiquity  have  done. 

This  labor,  begun  in  the  fourteenth,  continued  to  the 


274  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  A  Florentine,  Niccoli, 
devoted  his  whole  fortune  to  the  purchase  of  books; 
Cardinal  Bessarion  gathered  together  six  hundred 
Greek  manuscripts.  All  these  books  had  been  copied 
at  great  expense ;  when  Gutenberg  had  invented  print- 
ing, Italians  began  by  making  sport  of  "this  invention 
made  by  the  barbarians  in  a  German  town" ;  the  Duke 
of  Urbino,  who  kept  about  forty  scribes  occupied  in 
copying  upon  parchment,  said  that  he  would  have  been 
ashamed  to  possess  a  printed  book.  Nevertheless, 
printing  was  quickly  adopted,  and  the  books  of  the 
ancient  writers,  especially  those  printed  in  Venice,  were 
rapidly  scattered  abroad. 

Then  the  laity  could,  without  attending  the  uni- 
versities, study  the  Latin  literatures ;  some,  at  Florence 
especially,  learned  Greek  and  Hebrew.  These  studies 
were  called,  from  an  ancient  Latin  name,  the  humani- 
ties; those  who  studied  them  were  called  humanists, 
in  opposition  to  scholastics  (the  men  of  the  schools)  ; 
the  most  brilliant  of  these  humanists  was  Pico  della 
Mirandola,  a  gentleman  of  noble  family,  who  from  his 
youth  had  had  the  reputation  of  a  scholar  of  wide 
learning.  The  greater  numbers,  seized  with  a  feverish 
enthusiasm  for  antiquity,  devoted  their  lives  to  publish- 
ing the  works  of  the  ancient  writers  (a  very  difficult 
task,  for  the  manuscripts,  copied  and  re-copied  by  the 
ignorant  scribes  of  the  Middle  Ages,  had  come  down 
thickly  sown  with  mistakes).  Then  they  began  to 
comment  upon  them  and  to  imitate  them.  Then  were 
seen  writers  of  great  reputation,  Poggio  and  Bembo, 
surnamed  the  Ciceronian,  composer  of  letters,  dis- 
courses and  studies  in  Latin,  and  the  poets  Sannazaro 


THE   RENAISSANCE  275 

and  Vida,  who  devoted  their  talents  to  making  Latin 
verses.  More  than  one-half  of  the  literature  of  the 
sixteenth  century  in  Italy  was  an  imitation  of  the 
Latin  literature,  and  its  imitators,  whose  works  no  one 
reads  today,  were  more  celebrated  in  their  time  than 
were  the  original  writers. 

The  first  humanists  were  the  Italians,  but  the  study 
of  the  humanities  extended  into  France,  Germany  and 
the  Low  Countries.  The  most  celebrated  humanist, 
Erasmus,  was  from  Holland.  This  passion  for  Latin 
and  Greek  studies  lasted  until  the  middle  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  (the  scholars  themselves  continued  to 
write  in  Latin  until  the  nineteenth  century)  ;  then  only 
was  it  understood  that  the  best  language  for  a  writer 
is  his  maternal  tongue.  The  Latin  seemed  more  noble 
than  the  vernacular ;  Poggio  regretted  that  Dante  had 
composed  his  great  poem  in  Italian,  and  Dante  himself 
had  had  some  scruples,  for  he  began  his  "Inferno"  in 
Latin  verse.  The  inclination  to  imitate  antiquity  was 
manifest  even  in  the  details  of  the  language;  the 
authors  gave  themselves  Greek  and  Latin  names,  such 
as  Erasmus  and  Melanchthon ;  the  Italian  humanists 
even  went  so  far  as  to  call  the  saints  gods  and  the 
nuns  vestals;  some  scholars  amused  themselves  in  re- 
newing the  sacrifice  of  the  goat,  which  was  the  accom- 
paniment of  the  antique  tragedies. 

Italian  Literature. — Italy  had  already  in  the  fifteenth 
century  a  great  national  literature ;  in  the  sixteenth 
century  she  had  yet  another  epic  poet,  Tasso;  a  semi- 
comic  poet,  Ariosto,  and  a  great  prose  writer,  Machia- 
velli.  But  Italian  poetry  was  soon  spoiled  and  became 
affected  in  style  and  thought.     About  the  end  of  the 


276  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

sixteenth  century  the  Italians  began  to  compose  bur- 
lesque epics  (Tassoni),  and  insipid  pastorals  (Gua- 
rini).  Ideas  and  sentiments  were  no  longer  demanded 
from  a  poet,  but  sonorous  verses  and  especially  the 
bringing  together  of  unexpected  words  (concetti). 
This  pretentious  and  insipid  literature  was  admired 
throughout  all  Europe  during  the  whole  of  the  six- 
teenth century;  the  fashion  of  making  concetti  still 
existed  in  France  in  the  time  of  Boileau. 

Italian  Painting — The  process  of  painting  with  oil 
as  a  medium  was  known  in  Italy  about  the  middle  of  the 
fifteenth  century;  at  the  end  of  the  century  appeared 
the  painters  of  genius.  The  greatest  artists  had  disci- 
ples who  imitated  them,  and  they  formed  a  school. 
There  were  five  schools  in  Italy ;  each  had  its  centre  in 
a  different  country.  Michael  Angelo  was  head  of  the 
Florentine  school ;  Leonardo  da  Vinci  was  chief  of  the 
Lombard  school,  and  Raphael  of  the  Roman  school. 
All  three  of  these  belong  to  the  early  years  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  Later,  at  the  end  of  the  century,  were 
formed  the  Venetian  school  (whose  principal  repre- 
sentatives are  Titian,  Veronese,  Tintoretto),  and  the 
Bologna  school,  at  whose  head  is  Carracci.  The  Vene- 
tian school  is  distinguished  from  the  others  by  its 
brilliant  colors  and  its  golden  light.  As  for  the  painters 
of  Bologna  (who  are  sometimes  called  the  Eclectics) 
they  seek  to  combine  the  methods  of  the  preceding 
schools ;  they  are  especially  imitators,  and  were  already 
tainted  by  that  taste  for  studied  elegance  and  affecta- 
tion which  has  been  the  passion  of  the  Italians  ever 
since  the  seventeenth  century.  A  sixth  school  might 
be  added,  that  of  Naples,  dating  from  the  seventeenth 


THE   RENAISSANCE  277 

century,  and  whose  chief  representative  is  Salvator 
Rosa,  but  the  Neapolitan  school  is  usually  considered 
as  a  branch  of  the  Spanish  school,  whose  processes 
and  methods  it  has  imitated. 

The  Italian  painters  worked  for  the  churches  and 
for  the  great  lords  (they  had  as  yet  neither  museums 
nor  expositions).  Sometimes,  as  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
they  painted  frescoes  upon  the  walls  (of  this  character 
are  the  frescoes  of  Michael  Angelo  in  the  Sistine 
Chapel  and  of  Raphael  in  the  Vatican  at  Rome).  But 
the  greater  number  of  their  works  are  pictures  on  panel 
or  canvas,  which  were  hung  in  the  churches  or  in  the 
palaces.  The  painters  usually  took  for  their  subjects 
scenes  drawn  from  sacred  history,  the  life  of  Christ  or 
the  lives  of  the  saints,  from  the  pagan  theology  or  from 
ancient  history;  but  they  did  not  trouble  themselves 
in  regard  to  correctness  of  costume  or  of  "local  color"  ; 
they  represented  their  personages,  Jews,  Greeks,  Ro- 
mans, in  fanciful  costumes,  and  even  with  the  feathers 
and  clothing  of  the  Italians  of  their  time.  Thus  in  the 
"Marriage  at  Cana,"  of  Paul  Veronese,  which  is  in 
the  Louvre,  the  guests  gathered  about  the  Christ  are 
Venetian  gentlemen  clothed  according  to  the  fashion 
of  the  time.  Free  from  all  those  archaeological  scru- 
ples which  torment  the  artists  of  today,  the  painters 
of  the  Renaissance  could,  under  ancient  names,  portray 
events  which  they  themselves  had  witnessed.  They 
insisted  especially  on  beauty  of  form  and  color.  Like 
the  Greek  sculptors,  they  endeavored  to  represent  the 
human  body,  and  the  best  proportioned,  the  most  per- 
fect body  that  they  could  imagine.  They  did  not  sacri- 
fice the  body  for  the  face,  they  sought  for  beauty  rather 


278  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

than  expression.  Even  in  the  most  dramatic  scenes 
they  gave  noble  and  calm  attitudes  to  their  figures ;  in 
the  sacred  pictures  their  saints  were  only  distinguished 
by  a  delicate  halo  about  the  head;  the  numerous  pic- 
tures entitled  the  "Holy  Family,"  where  the  Virgin 
appears  with  the  infant  Jesus,  represent  hardly  any- 
thing more  than  a  beautiful  Italian  family.  The 
painter  did  not  seek  to  give  an  air  of  holiness  to  the 
faces. 

The  Italian  painters  knew  very  well  how  to  give 
expression  to  faces,  when  they  wished  to  do  so;  the 
portraits  by  Raphael,  Titian,  even  those  by  painters 
of  the  second  rank,  are  marvels  of  truth,  and  the  heads 
by  Leonardo  da  Vinci  still  produce  on  us  an  irresistible 
impression  of  mysterious  profundity.  But  in  their 
great  pictures  the  Italians  sought  first  of  all  to  make 
their  personages  as  beautiful  as  possible;  they  were 
idealists,  as  we  should  say.  For  the  Italian  painter, 
as  for  the  Greek  sculptor,  the  object  of  art  is  to  repre- 
sent man;  a  man  more  beautiful,  more  serene,  more 
happy  than  real  humanity  could  produce,  and  yet  a 
living  man,  who  united  truth  with  beauty. 

THE    FRENCH    RENAISSANCE 

French  Literature — The  literary  renaissance  of 
Prance  was  much  later  than  that  of  Italy:  the  great 
prose  writers,  Rabelais  and  Montaigne,  the  poets  Marot 
and  Ronsard  did  not  appear  before  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  In  France,  as  in  Italy,  the  greater 
number  of  the  writers  conceived  a  scorn  for  the  Mid- 
dle   Ages,    and    had    a    passionate    admiration    for 


THE   RENAISSANCE  279 

antiquity.  The  writers,  who  were  the  friends  of  Ron- 
sard  and  called  their  group  the  "Pleiad,"  tried  to  imi- 
tate, in  French,  the  works  of  the  Greeks  and  of  the 
Romans;  one  of  them,  Jodelle,  composed  the  first 
French  tragedy;  it  was  played  at  the  court  of  the 
king,  Henry  II.,  and  at  the  close  of  the  representation 
the  friends  of  the  poet  went  to  Arcueil  to  hold  a  feast ; 
in  order  to  imitate  the  antique  sacrifices,  they  brought 
out  a  goat  crowned  with  ivy.  Through  this  enthu- 
siasm for  antiquity  the  writers  introduced  into  the 
French  tongue  many  Greek,  and  many  more  Latin 
words ;  most  of  them  have  remained  in  it,  so  that  our 
modern  French  is  composed  of  two  kinds  of  words, 
those  coming  from  the  Middle  Ages,  and  those  from 
the  period  of  the  Renaissance. 

The  influence  of  the  Renaissance  was,  at  first,  felt 
only  on  the  forms  and  on  the  language.  The  original 
writers  in  France  preserved  the  naivete,  the  sly  humor, 
the  gaiety,  the  unrestrained  imagination  of  the  people 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  That  Renaissance  was  prolonged 
even  under  the  reign  of  Louis  XIII. ;  a  century  and  a 
half  was  needed  to  form  in  France  what  is  called  the 
classic  type. 

French  Painting. — France  had  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury painters  of  the  second  rank  only :  Clouet,  Cousin, 
Dubois.  The  great  French  painters  were  those  of  the 
seventeenth  century :  Poussin,  Claude  Lorrain,  Philippe 
de  Champagne ;  but  they  did  not  form  a  school,  for  they 
worked  in  wholly  different  lines.  Poussin  and  Lor- 
rain passed  a  part  of  their  lives  in  Italy ;  Poussin  repre- 
sented especially  scenes  from  the  Old  Testament  or 
from  antiquity;  Lorrain  is  chiefly  a  painter  of  land- 


280  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

scape;  Philippe  de  Champagne  a  painter  of  portraits 
and  of  pictures  for  churches. 

SCULPTURE   AND    ARCHITECTURE 

Sculpture — Sculpture  flourished  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
especially  in  the  fifteenth  century,  in  the  domains 
of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy;  "The  Well  of  Moses" 
and  the  tombs  of  the  dukes  of  Burgundy  are  recog- 
nized as  masterpieces.  However,  even  in  the  most 
beautiful  works  of  that  period,  statues  or  bas-reliefs, 
although  the  heads  and  draperies  are  often  admirable, 
the  bodies  are  out  of  proportion. 

The  Italian  sculptors  sought  to  return  to  the  forms 
of  the  antique  sculptures;  from  the  sixteenth  century 
they  had  begun  to  copy  the  bas-reliefs  and  the  statues 
preserved  at  Rome.  About  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century  the  great  sculptors  Donatello  and  Michael 
Angelo  appeared.  From  that  time  the  sculptors  en- 
deavored to  reproduce  the  human  body,  preferably 
nude.  Following  the  example  of  Michael  Angelo,  they 
studied  carefully,  sometimes  from  dead  bodies,  the 
disposition  of  the  bones  and  muscles ;  artistic  anatomy 
became  an  indispensable  study  for  the  sculptor.  The 
sculptors  of  the  Middle  Ages  took  for  their  models 
the  people  of  their  times,  monks,  bishops,  young 
girls,  whom  they  represented  in  their  usual  costumes 
and  attitudes ;  they  tried  to  represent  faithfully  the 
model  and  to  give  to  the  statue  an  air  of  life.  The 
sculptors  of  the  Renaissance,  seeking  for  beauty  above 
all  things,  desired  nothing  more  than  a  beautiful 
form. 


THE    RENAISSANCE  281 

In  Germany  the  real  sculptors  were  the  carvers  of 
Nuremberg,  who  still  kept  the  naivete  of  the  Middle 
Ages  (the  most  celebrated  is  Visscher)  ;  in  France 
there  were  some  great  sculptors,  Goujon  and  Germain 
Pilon,  who  worked  chiefly  for  the  court. 

The  sculptors,  down  to  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, produced  works  at  the  same  time  beautiful  and 
simple.  In  the  seventeenth  century  they  continued  to 
seek  for  beautiful  forms,  but  little  by  little,  as  a  result 
of  their  imitation  of  ancient  works,  they  lost  the  habit 
of  observing  nature  and  of  depicting  life ;  they  thought 
only  of  producing  an  effect ;  their  works  remained 
correct,  but  they  were  affected  and  cold. 

Architecture. — The  Middle  Ages  had  two  great 
styles  of  architecture,  the  Romanesque  and  the  Gothic. 
The  Renaissance  of  architecture  consisted  in  producing 
edifices  not  more  beautiful  than  those  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  but  more  like  the  antique  monuments.  It  was 
the  Italians  who  set  the  example  of  imitating  antiquity. 
Already  in  the  fifteenth  century  Brunelleschi,  in  build- 
ing the  cathedral  at  Florence,  had  completely  aban- 
doned the  Gothic  style  and  had  taken  up  again  the 
cupola  and  columns  of  the  Roman  edifices. 

In  the  sixteenth  century  Bramante  began  (1506), 
and  Michael  Angelo  finished  (1546),  the  great  church 
of  Saint  Peter's  at  Rome,  which  became  a  model  for  all 
the  churches  of  Europe.  During  the  same  century  the 
chateaux  of  the  Renaissance  constructed  by  the  kings 
at  Blois  and  Fontainebleau,  were  built  on  a  Gothic 
plan  and  still  preserve  the  pointed  towers,  the  elegant 
mansards,  the  projecting  stairways,  and  the  animated 
aspect  of  the  mansions  of  the  sixteenth  century;  they 


282  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

have  taken  from  the  Renaissance  only  the  details  of 
their  ornamentation.  But  the  farther  we  depart  from 
the  Middle  Ages  the  more  completely  is  the  Gothic 
obliterated.  In  the  central  pavilion  of  the  Louvre, 
built  by  Pierre  Lescot  before  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  there  is  no  trace  of  the  Gothic.  Gradually 
the  forms  imitated  from  the  ancients  replaced  the 
original  forms  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  architecture 
was  reduced  to  an  imitative  art. 


CHAPTER   XX 
THE   REFORMATION 

ORIGIN    OF    THE    REFORMATION 

Complaints  Against  the  Clergy Since  the  twelfth 

century  complaints  against  the  clergy  had  never  ceased 
in  Europe.  Not  only  the  heretics  (Albigenses  and 
Vaudois  in  the  thirteenth  century,  disciples  of  Wycliffe 
in  the  fourteenth  century  and  Hussites  in  the  fifteenth 
century),  but  the  doctors  of  the  church,  and  the  coun- 
cils, declared  that  the  greater  number  of  the  prelates, 
priests  and  monks  had  become  corrupt  through  their 
wealth  and  their  idleness.  They  were  blamed  on  ac- 
count of  their  magnificent  vestments,  their  luxury, 
their  insolence  and  their  ignorance.  According  as  the 
laity  became  educated  the  more  shocking  seemed  this 
spectacle. 

The  most  discontent  was  shown  among  the  peoples 
of  the  north,  the  English  and  the  Germans ;  their  hatred 
was  turned  against  the  Italians  who  governed  the 
church,  especially  against  the  pope  and  the  court  at 
Rome.  The  Renaissance  gave  the  finishing  stroke  to 
the  scandal ;  they  could  not  understand  how  the  head 
of  the  Christian  church  could  admire  the  statues  and 
the  books  of  the  pagans.  Luther  describes  the  impres- 
sion which  his  journey  to  Rome  produced  as  follows : 
"I  would  not  for  a  thousand  florins  have  missed  seeing 

Rome;  I  should  always  have  asked  myself  if  I  were 

283 


284  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

not  doing  injustice  to  the  pope.  The  crimes  at  Rome 
are  incredible.  .  .  .  We  Germans,  we  gorge  our- 
selves with  drink  until  we  burst,  while  the  Italians  are 
sober ;  but  they  are  the  most  impious  of  men,  they  make 
sport  of  the  true  religion;  and  they  rail  at  us  Chris- 
tians because  we  believe  everything  in  the  Scriptures. 
.  .  .  In  Italy,  when  they  go  to  church,  they  say : 
Come,  let  us  go  and  conform  to  the  popular  error. 
If  we  were  obliged,  they  say,  to  believe  all  the  word 
of  God,  we  should  be  the  most  unfortunate  of  all  men, 
and  we  could  never  have  a  moment  of  gaiety.  The 
Italians  are  either  epicureans  1  or  superstitious.  The 
people  fear  Saint  Anthony  or  Saint  Sebastian  more 
than  they  do  Christ,  because  of  the  wounds  or  the 
maladies  which  they  send2  upon  them.  ...  So  they 
live  in  extreme  superstition,  without  knowing  the  Word 
of  God,  neither  believing  in  the  resurrection  of  the 
body  nor  in  life  eternal.  They  celebrate  the  carnival, 
which  lasts  several  weeks,  with  unseemliness  and  ex- 
treme folly,  and  they  have  introduced  into  it  the  most 
extravagant  and  wild  actions,  for  they  are  men  with- 
out a  conscience,  living  publicly  in  sin."  Just  or  un- 
just, these  sentiments  were,  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
shared  by  many  Christians  in  Germany  and  in  Eng- 
land, and  many  people  were  ready  to  support  whoever 
dared  attack  the  court  of  Rome. 

The  Reformers — The  men  who  set  the  example  of 
revolt  were  of  obscure  origin :  Luther  was  a  simple 
monk,  doctor  in  the  small  University  of  Wittenberg; 

1  That  is  to  say  unbelieving,   incredulous. 

2  At  that  time  it  was  believed  that  certain  maladies  of  the 
skin  were  sent  by  St.  Anthony. 


THE    REFORMATION  285 

Zwingle,  a  country  priest  at  Glarus ;  Calvin,  the  son  of 
a  bourgeois  of  Noyon  in  Picardy. 

The  revolt  began  over  a  secondary  question.  Leo 
X.,  having  need  of  money  in  order  to  build  the  church 
of  Saint  Peter,  had  sent  some  Dominicans  into  Ger- 
many charged  with  giving  indulgences  to  the  faithful 
who  would  aid  in  the  construction  of  the  church  by 
giving  their  pence  for  this  purpose.  That  one  could 
gain  indulgences  through  good  works  was  not  a  nov- 
elty. But  this  time  the  concession  of  the  indulgences 
resembled  a  public  sale  and  caused  a  great  scandal.  A 
nobleman  in  the  city  of  Berne  bought  indulgences  for 
himself  and  his  squires,  giving  as  recompense  a  gray 
horse;  the  town  of  Aarburg  bought  indulgences  for 
all  its  citizens,  living  or  dead.  Luther  attacked  this 
sale  as  being  contrary  to  Scripture.  The  pope  sus- 
tained his  envoy,  and  censured  the  opinions  of  Luther. 
A  conflict  ensued  under  the  form  of  theological  contro- 
versies in  Latin.  It  seems  that  Luther,  who  did  not 
at  first  intend  to  break  with  the  pope,  accustomed 
himself  to  this  idea  during  the  course  of  the  dispute; 
finally  he  made  an  appeal  in  writing  to  the  laity  of 
Germany,  and  this  was  in  German.  Many  nobles  and 
princes  sustained  him,  and  they  began  openly  to  preach 
against  the  pope  and  the  clergy. 

Luther  admitted  the  rupture  between  himself  and 
the  pope  by  publicly  burning  the  pope's  bull. 

The  example  set  at  Wittenberg  was  followed  in  a 
great  number  of  towns. 

It  was  a  fear  of  the  last  judgment  that  especially 
animated  Luther.  "These  words,  the  justice  of  God, 
were,"  said  he,  "like  the  voice  of  thunder  in  my  con- 


286  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

science.  I  shuddered  on  hearing  them.  I  said  to  my- 
self:  If  God  is  just,  he  will  punish  me."  Luther  felt 
himself  continually  menaced  by  the  devil,  who  came  to 
tempt  him  and  to  take  possession  of  his  soul ;  one  day, 
in  his  cell  at  the  castle  of  the  Wartburg,  he  thought  he 
felt  that  the  devil  was  near  him,  and  he  threw  his  ink- 
stand at  his  head  (the  stain  remained  on  the  wall  for  a 
long  time).  Man,  thought  Luther,  is  born  in  sin,  he 
is  naturally  corrupt  and  merits  condemnation.  He 
cannot  purpose  to  do  well,  crushed  as  he  is  by  the 
weight  of  his  sins,  and  even  good  actions  cannot  take 
away  the  original  corruption  from  the  human  heart. 
Given  up  to  himself,  man  would  then  infallibly  be 
damned.  His  only  chance  of  salvation  is  to  supplicate 
Christ  that  He  would  grant  him  pardon  and  belief  in 
Him.  Belief,  according  to  the  doctrines  of  Luther,  is  not 
only  a  credence  in  certain  dogmas,  it  is  also,  and  above 
all,  a  sentiment,  the  love  of  the  Saviour  and  the  desire 
to  be  united  with  Him.  The  one  to  whom  Christ  has 
indeed  willingly  granted  the  favor  of  imparting  to  him 
this  faith  is  immediately  delivered  from  sin,  regener- 
ated, assured  of  salvation.  This  is  what  was  called 
"to  be  justified  by  faith."  When  Luther  had  experi- 
enced this  pardon :  "I  feel,"  said  he,  "as  if  born  again, 
and  it  seems  to  me  that  I  am  entering  through  the  open 
doors  into  Paradise." 

Calvin  started  out  with  a  similar  idea.  "Original 
sin  has  made  the  heart  of  man  wholly  corrupt;1  his 
will  has  become  so  completely  wicked  that  he  is  incapa- 

1  Zwingle  was  less  occupied  with  original  sin ;  he  said  that 
men  could  be  saved  outside  of  belief;  he  wrote  to  Francis  I: 
"  He  (the  king)  must  hope  to  see  the  assembly  of  all  the  holy, 
courageous,   faithful  and  virtuous  men  that  there  have  been 


THE   REFORMATION  287 

ble  of  wanting  to  be  good,  but  he  is  still  capable 
of  wishing  to  do  evil.  Therefore  all  men  given  up 
to  themselves  would  be  justly  condemned  to  eternal 
destruction.  God,  through  an  act  of  kindness,  is  will- 
ing to  extend  to  some  the  grace  to  save  them ;  but  this 
grace  is  only  granted  to  those  who  believe. 

For  Calvin,  as  for  Luther,  all  religion  was  founded 
on  faith.  Man  is  justified,  that  is,  saved,  by  his  faith, 
not  by  his  works.  All  the  institutions  established  by 
the  church  are  therefore  useless.  One  thing  only  is 
beneficial  to  all  mankind,  the  word  of  God ;  but  it  must 
be  taken  directly  from  its  source,  in  the  Scriptures; 
all  the  explanations  given  by  the  fathers  and  the  doc- 
tors of  the  church  have  done  nothing  but  alter  it,  or 
else  have  made  it  obscure.  "If  some  one,"  said  Luther, 
"should  attack  you  by  saying  that  the  Scriptures  are 
obscure  and  that  aid  from  the  commentaries  of  the 
fathers  is  necessary,  answer :  A  clearer  book  than  the 
Bible  has  never  been  written  upon  this  earth." 

Character  of  the  Reformation. — The  reformers  did 
not  speak  in  the  name  of  reason  and  of  a  free  examina- 
tion as  the  philosophers  had  done.  For  from  obliging 
the  faithful  to  examine  freely  their  beliefs  in  order  to 
reject  those  which  seemed  to  them  unreasonable,  they 
put  them  on  their  guard  against  reason. 

"The  word  of  God,"  said  Luther,  "is  folly  in  the 
eyes  of  reason.  .  .  .  Reason  does  nothing  but  blas- 
pheme God  and  criticise  his  works,  reason  does  not 
comprehend  God,  and  must  be  destroyed. 

since  the  foundation  of  the  world.  You  will  see  there  (in  heaven) 
Hercules,  Theseus,  Socrates,  Numa,  Camillus,  Cato.  There  will 
be  no  good  man  whom  you  will  not  see  there  with  God."  There- 
fore Luther  refused  to  extend  his  hand  to  Zwingle. 


288  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

"The  Christian  must  close  his  eyes,  his  ears,  all  the 
senses,  and  ask  nothing  more."  The  reformers 
brought  reproaches  against  the  church  of  their  own 
time,  not  on  account  of  too  much  faith,  but  on  account 
of  too  little. 

The  Reformation  was  not  a  political  revolution 
arranged  in  order  to  free  the  nations  from  an  absolute 
power.  When  the  peasants  of  Germany  rose  in  rebel- 
lion in  the  name  of  the  Scriptures,  Luther  vigorously 
condemned  them.  "Whatever  may  be  the  rights  of 
the  peasants,  they  are  culpable  on  account  of  the  very 
act  of  making  the  demand;  they  ought  to  suffer  and 
be  silent,  if  they  want  to  be  Christians.  The  Chris- 
tian lets  himself  be  robbed,  flayed,  killed,  for  he  is  a 
martyr  on  the  earth.  The  doctrine  of  resistance  is  a 
pagan  doctrine ;  the  Greeks  and  the  Romans  preached 
it,  but  the  Gospel  has  nothing  in  common  with  natural 
rights." 

The  reformers  did  not  want  to  give  freedom  to 
reason,  nor  to  reform  the  state.  They  even  pretended 
that  they  would  make  no  innovations  in  religion,  but 
that  they  wanted  only  to  re-establish  the  Christian 
faith  in  its  primitive  purity.  They  rejected  the  tradi- 
tions taught  by  the  church,  not  that  they  had  found 
these  traditions  unreasonable,  but  they  believed  them  to 
be  contrary  to  the  word  of  God.  They  pretended  to 
go  back  fifteen  centuries,  to  the  time  of  the  apostles. 
The  church  had  modified  the  religion  of  Christ,  they 
went  therefore  to  the  Holy  Scriptures  in  order  to 
search  for  the  pure  doctrine ;  it  was  no  longer  sufficient 
for  them  to  read  it  in  the  Latin  translation,  as  had  been 
done  up  to  that  time;  they  insisted  upon  reading  the 


THE   REFORMATION  289 

Gospels  in  the  Greek,  and  the  Old  Testament  in  the 
Hebrew.  They  went  back  to  religious  antiquity,  as 
the  learned  of  the  Renaissance  had  gone  back  to  pro- 
fane antiquity.  They  believed  they  were  only  engaged 
in  a  restoration. 

But  the  pretended  restoration  could  not  be  brought 
about  without  a  general  confusion;  if  all  that  had 
been  established  by  the  church  during  those  fifteen 
centuries  had  been  an  alteration,  everything  must  be 
overthrown.  In  fact  the  reformers  rejected  all  the  doc- 
trines and  all  the  customs  which  were  not  found  in  the 
Gospels :  purgatory,  the  doctrines  of  the  merits  of  the 
saints,  and  of  indulgences,  the  authority  of  the  pope 
and  of  the  bishops,  the  celibacy  of  the  priests,  the  con- 
vents, the  masses,  the  pictures,  the  ornaments  of  the 
church,  the  processions,  the  worship  of  the  saints  and 
of  the  virgin,  the  relics,  the  pilgrimages,  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  sacraments. 

The  ancient  religion,  founded  upon  tradition,  was 
to  be  destroyed.  In  its  place  they  established,  without 
being  aware  of  it,  a  new  religion  founded  upon  an 
interpretation  of  the  Scriptures.  Of  ancient  Catho- 
licism they  preserved  hardly  anything  but  the  beliefs ; 
they  allowed  almost  nothing  to  remain  of  the  organiza- 
tion, of  the  worship,  and  of  the  practices  of  the  early 
church. 

The  Reformation  suppressed  the  clergy,  pope,  bish- 
ops, priests  and  monks ;  the  pastors,  charged  with 
teaching  the  word  of  God,  did  not  at  all  resemble  the 
priests  ;  they  married,  lived  among  the  laity  and  did  not 
form  a  separate  class.  The  Reformation  suppressed 
the  mass,  the  liturgy  in  Latin,  and  the  processions. 


290  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

There  was  no  longer  any  other  worship  except  the 
assembly  of  the  faithful,  who  gathered  each  Sunday 
in  order  to  listen  to  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  to 
the  sermon  and  the  prayers  of  the  pastor,  and  to  sing 
hymns.  Prayers  and  hymns  were  in  the  language 
of  the  believers.  As  for  the  communion,  the  laity 
received  it  rarely,  and  they  took  it  under  the  form  of 
bread  and  wine,  while  in  the  Catholic  communion  the 
wine  had  been  reserved  for  the  priests  alone. 

The  Reformation  no  longer  admitted  that  the  clergy 
could  be  superior  to  the  laity.  In  order  to  put  the 
Scriptures  within  reach  of  the  laity,  the  reformers  in 
each  country  translated  the  Bible  into  the  vernacular. 
The  example  was  set  by  Luther;  his  translation  in 
German  is  one  of  the  monuments  of  the  language. 

Auxiliaries    of    the    Reformation The    reformers 

were  opposed  by  almost  all  of  the  clergy.  Left  to 
depend  upon  their  own  strength  they  would  have  been 
crushed,  like  the  heretics  of  the  thirteenth  century; 
but  they  found  allies,  who  were  ready  to  support  them, 
either  through  religious  convictions  or  through  politi- 
cal interest. 

For  the  bourgeois  and  for  many  of  the  artisans  in 
the  towns,  especially  in  the  countries  of  the  North,  it 
was  a  great  consolation  to  be  able  themselves  to  read 
the  Scriptures,  to  hear  them  explained  in  their  own 
tongue,  to  be  able  to  chant  the  prayers  and  the  hymns 
in  their  own  tongue  and  to  receive  the  cup  1  at  the 
communion. 


1  It  was  in  order  to  obtain  the  service  of  the  cup  at  commun- 
ion that  the  Hussites  of  Bohemia,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  sus- 
tained wars  of  extermination  against  the  whole  of  Germany. 


THE    REFORMATION  291 

For  many  of  the  nobles  this  was  an  opportunity  of 
getting  rid  of  the  clergy  who  restrained  them.  For 
the  adventurers  it  was  an  excellent  pretext  for  taking 
possession  of  the  valuable  objects  which  had  been 
gathered  into  the  treasuries  of  the  churches.  Finally, 
in  some  countries,  the  clergy  themselves  supported  the 
reform  in  order  to  render  themselves  independent  of 
the  popes  and  to  form  a  national  church. 

But  the  most  powerful  auxiliaries  of  the  Reforma- 
tion were  the  princes  and,  in  Germany,  the  councils 
of  the  free  cities.  The  bishops  still  had  their  tribunals, 
where  they  sat  in  judgment  on  the  suits  of  the  clergy, 
and  besides  on  many  suits  which  concerned  the  laity. 
The  bishoprics  and  the  abbeys  consisted  of  immense 
domains  (in  Germany  almost  one-third  of  the  lands 
belonged  to  them).  Now  the  reformers  declared  that 
the  clergy  must  return  to  the  poverty  of  the  early  times 
of  Christianity,  and  must  give  up  all  political  power. 
The  princes  and  the  town  councils,  adopting  the  ideas 
of  the  Reformation,  then  closed  the  convents,  took 
from  the  bishops  and  the  abbots  their  domains,  their 
power,  their  jurisdiction,  on  the  ground  that  such  pos- 
sessions were  contrary  to  the  Gospel,  and  retained  all 
in  their  own  power.  In  some  places  the  ecclesiastical 
prince  himself  became  a  reformer,  married,  was  trans- 
formed into  a  secular  prince,  and  made  for  himself  a 
secular  state  out  of  the  domains  of  the  church.  This 
was  the  case  with  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Teutonic 
Order,  who  became  a  Prussian  duke. 

In  adopting  the  Reformation,  the  princes  not  only 
increased  their  domains,  but  their  authority  also.  The 
Catholic  clergy,  rich  and  sustained  by  the  pope,  were 


292  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

greatly  feared  by  the  princes  whom  they  could  excom- 
municate. The  reformed  pastors,  poor  and  isolated, 
depended  entirely  on  the  government  that  paid  them. 
The  prince  united  to  all  his  former  powers  those  of 
the  bishops  and  the  pope;  he  became  at  one  and  the 
same  time  head  of  the  state  and  head  of  the  church. 
The  princes  then  had  a  direct  interest  in  the  Reforma- 
tion. It  was  a  prince,  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  who  con- 
cealed Luther  in  one  of  his  castles ;  they  were  German 
princes  who  presented  demands  for  reform  to  the  Diet, 
and  who  protested  against  its  decisions ;  and  the  kings 
of  Sweden,  Denmark  and  England  introduced  the 
Reformation  into  their  states.  Except  in  Holland  and 
in  Scotland,  where  protestantism  was  founded  in  re- 
volt, the  Reformation  has  been  successful  only  in  the 
countries  where  it  was  carried  on  under  the  patronage 
of  the  government  (England,  Sweden,  Denmark,  the 
German  states). 

DIFFERENT    FORMS    OF    PROTESTANTISM 

The  Protestant  Sects — The  reformed  Germans,  in 
revolting  against  the  pope,  did  not,  at  first,  wish  to 
break  away  from  the  church ;  they  demanded  that  a 
council  be  called  to  reform  the  abuses  in  the  church  and 
to  decide  questions  of  dogma.  But  while  waiting  for 
the  council  each  prince  regulated  religious  affairs  in 
his  states  according  to  his  good  pleasure;  and  many 
carried  on  the  reform  as  they  understood  it.  The 
Catholic  princes  still  formed  the  large  majority  in  the 
Reichstag;  they  decided  at  the  reunion  in  Speyer 
(1529),  that  henceforth  every  prince  who  had  not  yet 


THE   REFORMATION  293 

rallied  to  the  standard  of  reform  must  remain  in 
the  ancient  faith,  support  his  subjects  in  it,  and 
prevent  any  one  from  preaching  the  new  doctrines 
within  the  borders  of  his  states  until  the  assem- 
bling of  the  council.  The  reformed  princes  protested 
against  this  decision  (the  protest  was  signed  by  only 
five  princes  and  fourteen  towns)  ;  from  this  act  the 
name  of  Protestant  was  applied  to  all  the  partisans  of 
the  Reformation. 

The  two  parties  tried  for  a  long  time  to  be  recon- 
ciled ;  but  they  could  not  agree  upon  the  question  of  the 
marriage  of  priests,  and  Christianity  was  to  be  divided 
into  two  religions  henceforth  hostile  to  each  other. 
Those  who  remained  faithful  to  the  traditions  of  the 
church  kept  the  name  catholic  (universal),  those  who 
broke  away  from  the  traditions  called  themselves  re- 
formed or  protestant. 

All  the  Protestants  are  agreed  on  some  points ;  they 
all  consent  to  reject  the  doctrine  of  the  necessity  of 
an  intermediate  agent  between  a  believer  and  God,  and 
declare  that  works  are  insufficient  for  salvation.  (By 
the  word  works  it  was  understood  at  that  epoch  not 
good  works,  in  the  modern  sense,  that  is,  works  of 
charity,  but  rather  devout  works,  what  we  call  observ- 
ances). They  all  consented  to  require  neither  the 
authority  of  the  pope,  nor  convents,  nor  obligatory 
celibacy,  nor  the  mass,  nor  the  sign  of  the  cross.  To 
be  present  at  mass,  to  obey  the  pope,  to  make  the 
sign  of  the  cross,  all  these  were  exterior  signs  by 
which  Catholics  were  recognized.  But  if  they  were  in 
accord  upon  what  was  to  be  rejected,  they  did  not  at 
all  agree  on  what  should  be  accepted. 


294  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

As  the  Reformation  came  about  in  different  coun- 
tries, through  different  motives,  among  many  men, 
wholly  different  in  race  or  character,  and  without  any 
general  direction,  the  Protestants  have  adopted  neither 
the  same  creeds  nor  the  same  organization.  Protest- 
antism, unlike  Catholicism,  has  not  been  one  and  the 
same  religion  everywhere  like  unto  itself;  it  is  divided 
into  many  sects,  which  for  a  long  time  mutually  de- 
tested each  other. 

Lutheranism — Lutheranism  was  the  form  adopted 
by  the  German  states  (of  which  Prussia  is  the  chief), 
and  by  the  kingdoms  of  the  North  ( Sweden,  Denmark 
and  Norway).  It  was  also  established  in  the  sixteenth 
century  in  Bohemia,  Poland,  Austria  and  Hungary, 
but  all  these  countries  have  returned  to  Catholicism. 
The  Lutherans  formulated  their  doctrine  in  the  con- 
fession presented  at  Augsburg  (1530).  They  say 
that  the  believer  can  obtain  pardon  only  from  God 
himself,  that  he  must  not  demand  it  through  the  pray- 
ers of  the  church,  nor  through  the  mediation  of  the 
Virgin  or  the  saints ;  therefore  they  rejected  indulgence 
and  all  the  observances  of  devotion.  They  said  that 
the  word  of  God  is  entirely  contained  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  that  the  church  has  not  the  power  to  change 
anything  in  them ;  so  the  Scriptures  should  be  published 
in  the  vulgar  tongue,  in  order  to  be  within  reach  of  all 
believers.  They  give  the  communion  of  two  kinds  to 
the  laity.  They  admit  that  in  the  mystery  of  the  com- 
munion Christ  is  present  in  the  bread  and  wine,  but  in 
a  different  manner  from  that  taught  by  the  Church  of 
Rome.  "Christ,"  said  Luther,  "is  present  in  the  sac- 
rament as  fire  is  present  in  the  red  hot  iron."     How- 


THE   REFORMATION  295 

ever,  they  cannot  agree  among  themselves  as  to  the 
manner  of  interpreting  the  Lord's  Supper.  They  still 
preserve  confession,  but  in  their  system  the  penitent 
has  no  need  of  enumerating  his  sins,  nor  of  re- 
ceiving absolution  from  the  priest;  the  Lutheran 
confession  is  nothing  more  than  a  ceremony.  They 
admit  the  greater  part  of  the  Catholic  dogmas;  the 
Trinity,  the  Incarnation,  the  Redemption,  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

In  their  churches  they  keep  the  altar,  but  they  have 
done  away  with  candles,  incense  and  with  all  orna- 
ments. They  do  not  abolish  all  hierarchial  govern- 
ment; but  they  declare  that  the  organization  of  the 
church  is  not  of  divine  institution,  it  depends  on  the 
civil  organization,  and  can  be  changed.  They  establish 
in  the  place  of  a  bishop  a  superintendent  superior  to 
the  pastors,  but  they  give  him  almost  no  power.  In 
fact,  in  the  Lutheran  countries,  it  is  the  prince  who 
governs  the  church,  appoints  the  ministers  of  public 
worship,  and  who  regulates  even  the  articles  of  faith, 
the  hymn  books  and  the  catechisms. 

Anglicanism. — Anglicanism  is  the  form  of  protes- 
tantism adopted  by  the  English  government.  Drawn 
in  outline  by  Henry  VIII.,  it  has  been  definitively  or- 
ganized by  Parliament  in  the  adoption  of  the  "Thirty- 
nine  Articles,"  which  remain  the  foundation  of  the 
Anglican  church. 

The  doctrines  are  much  like  those  of  the  Lutherans 
(except  the  manner  of  explaining  the  "Lord's  Sup- 
per"). The  principle  of  the  Anglican  doctrine  is  ex- 
pressed in  article  5 :  "The  Holy  Scriptures  contain  all 
that  is  necessary  for  salvation ;  no  one  can  be  asked  to 


296  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

believe  as  an  article  of  faith  anything  which  cannot 
be  read  there."  But  the  Anglican  church  differs  from 
all  the  others  by  its  worship  and  its  organization.  It 
has  preserved  a  part  of  the  Catholic  liturgy,  by  trans- 
lating it  into  English ;  for,  says  article  24,  "it  is  entirely 
contrary  to  the  word  of  God  and  to  the  custom  of  the 
primitive  church  to  have  a  public  prayer  in  the  church, 
or  to  administer  the  sacraments  in  a  tongue  which  the 
people  cannot  understand;"  the  liturgical  collection, 
published  in  1546,  is  called  the  "Book  of  Common 
Prayer."  It  has  preserved  the  bishops  and  allowed 
them  authority  over  the  pastors  and  the  believers,  and 
given  them  power  over  matters  pertaining  to  religion. 
"The  church  has  the  power  to  decide  upon  rites  and 
ceremonies,  it  has  authority  in  controversies  concern- 
ing the  faith."  Only  the  bishops,  in  place  of  obeying 
the  pope,  are  subject  to  the  King  of  England,  who  is 
the  head  of  the  church.  The  king  has  abandoned  to 
the  clergy  a  part  of  his  domains ;  therefore  the  Angli- 
can church  is  the  richest  of  all  the  Protestant  churches, 
but  it  is  strictly  dependent  upon  the  state. 

Calvinism. — Calvinism,  established  at  first  at  Ge- 
neva, has  been  adopted  by  Holland,  Scotland,  the 
Protestants  of  France  and  later  by  a  part  of  the 
English  people  and  by  some  of  the  German  princes. 
There  is  no  single  confession  of  faith ;  the  church  in 
each  country  has  drawn  up  its  own  confession;  that  of 
the  Calvinists  of  France  is  the  confession  of  faith 
drawn  up  at  La  Rochelle.  Calvinism  is,  of  all  the 
sects,  the  farthest  removed  from  Catholicism.  Its 
fundamental  doctrine  is  predestination.  All  that  hap- 
pens comes  to  pass  solely  by  the  will  of  God,  he  has 


THE   REFORMATION  297 

arranged  the  fate  of  men  even  before  their  birth;  he 
has  predestined  some  to  be  saved,  others  to  be  damned, 
and  it  does  not  depend  on  the  man  through  his  acts 
to  change  the  decrees  of  God.  God  could  justly  con- 
demn all  men,  for  all  are  corrupt  through  sin;  but 
he  has  elected  some,  through  His  grace,  and  rejected 
others  through  His  justice.  God  acts  thus  "for  His 
glory,"  and  we  have  only  to  venerate  His  will.  One 
thing  only  is  important,  therefore :  that  is,  grace ;  he 
who  has  received  that  is  sure  of  salvation.  The  Cal- 
vinists  preserve  only  two  sacraments,  baptism  and 
communion;  furthermore  the  communion  is  for  them 
nothing  but  a  ceremony  of  commemoration,  where  the 
bread  and  the  wine  are  only  symbols  of  the  body  and 
blood  of  Christ. 

The  Calvinist  worship  admits  of  no  observances 
(neither  the  sign  of  the  cross,  nor  fasting,  nor  absti- 
nence, nor  confession),  of  no  ornaments,  of  no  sym- 
bolical ceremony,  of  nothing  which  speaks  to  the  eye. 
It  takes  place  in  a  bare  edifice,  and  consists  exclusively 
in  the  reading  of  the  Bible,  in  sermons,  prayers,  and  in 
hymns  sung  by  the  believers ;  some  churches  will  not 
even  have  an  organ  to  accompany  the  singing. 

In  the  organization  of  the  churches  Calvinism  has 
preserved  nothing  of  the  hierarchy,  not  even  the  power 
of  the  bishops.  The  churches  have  been  constituted 
in  the  form  that  Calvin  imagined  to  have  been  that  of 
the  primitive  church.  Each  parish  (whether  it  has  one 
or  several  pastors)  forms  an  independent  church,  it 
has  a  council  (a  consistory),1  composed  of  the  pastor 

1  The  word  consistory  has  lost  its  primitive  sense  in  the  re- 
formed church  of  France  and  designates  today  what  was 
formerly  called  the  conference  of  the  church. 


298  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

and  the  elders;  these  elders  are  laymen,  usually  the 
principal  men  of  the  parish  (sometimes  chosen  by  the 
members).  This  council  regulates  all  the  affairs  of 
the  parish,  may  call  before  it  the  accused  members,  and 
order  the  pastor  to  reprimand  them,  or  even  to  exclude 
them  from  the  communion.  As  the  elders  are  usually 
more  than  the  pastors  in  the  consistory,  it  is  usually 
the  laymen  who  direct  the  affairs  of  the  church.  For 
the  affairs  which  interest  all  the  churches  of  a  country, 
general  assemblies  formed  of  delegates  from  all  the 
churches,  are  held :  there  are  regulated  the  questions 
of  doctrine  and  of  worship,  there  are  condemned  the 
pastors  and  the  churches  who  seem  to  have  abandoned 
the  faith.  All  the  churches  are  equal,  without  regard 
to  the  number  of  pastors  or  members ;  the  smallest 
country  church,  with  a  single  pastor,  and  several  hun- 
dred members,  has  the  same  right  to  vote  as  has  a  city 
church  composed  of  several  thousand  members.  In  the 
synod  or  assembly,  as  in  the  parish  council,  it  is  the 
laymen  who  take  the  lead.  Therefore  Calvinism  has 
succeeded  in  the  complete  establishment  of  church 
government  by  the  laity. 

This  system  has  been  called  in  Scotland  and  in  Eng- 
land the  Presbyterian  method  of  government  (that  is, 
government  by  the  elders).  Presbyterianism  is  the 
English  form  of  Calvinism;  it  has  been  adopted  gen- 
erally by  the  inhabitants  of  Scotland,  and  by  a  great 
number  of  dissenters  in  England. 

The  Independents. — Many  English  Protestants  in 
the  seventeenth  century  rejected  not  only  the  episcopal 
organization,  but  also  the  presbyterian  system  of  gov- 
ernment, and  formed  new  sects :  the  two  principal  ones 


THE   REFORMATION  299 

were  the  Independents  and  the  Quakers.  The  Inde- 
pendents had  almost  the  same  doctrines  as  the  Presby- 
terians. They  were  the  most  rigid  and  the.  most  intol- 
erant of  all  the  Protestants :  they  passed  their  time  in 
reading  the  Scriptures  or  in  prayer,  and  declared  that 
they  would  accept  nothing  but  the  pure  doctrine ;  from 
this  came  the  name  Puritan  under  which  they  have 
become  celebrated.  They  condemned  all  diversions, 
the  dance,  the  theatre,  all  games  at  cards  and  the 
arts,  as  inventions  of  the  devil;  the  Christian,  they 
said,  who  desires  to  merit  pardon,  should  not  be  occu- 
pied with  anything  but  the  service  of  God.  That 
which  separated  them  from  the  other  Calvinists  is 
that  they  admitted  no  sort  of  ecclesiastical  govern- 
ment; they  would  have  neither  synod  nor  consistory, 
nor  any  regular  office.  The  members  gathered  to- 
gether in  order  to  celebrate  their  worship  and  to  regu- 
late their  affairs  as  they  understood  them ;  the  pastor 
chosen  by  the  members  has  no  established  authority 
over  them.  Each  church  is  absolutely  sovereign,  and 
in  the  bosom  of  the  church  all  members  are  equal ; 
they  themselves  censure  or  excommunicate  the  mem- 
bers who  are  judged  unworthy.  Each  member 
thus  lives  under  the  perpetual  surveillance  of  all  the 
others. 

The  Quakers — The  Quakers  will  not  even  have 
pastors.1  "Religion,"  they  say,  "tends  especially  to 
withdraw  man  from  the  vain  spirit  of  this  world  in 
order  to  lead  him  into  a  silent  communion  with  God." 
Each  one  is  for  himself  his  own  pastor;  for  each  mem- 
ber can  be  enlightened  and  sanctified  directly  by  the 
1  The  Hicksite  Quakers  have  pastors. — Ed. 


300  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

spirit  of  God.  In  their  meetings  no  one  is  designated 
beforehand  for  the  purpose  of  directing  the  worship : 
whoever  feels  himself  inspired  by  the  spirit  takes  it 
upon  himself  to  speak ;  even  the  women  are  so  inspired. 
Sometimes  the  person  inspired  falls  into  an  ecstasy  or 
is  even  attacked  by  convulsions;  that  is  the  reason 
why  the  enemies  of  the  sect  call  them  Quakers  (trem- 
blers) ;  they  themselves  have  adopted  the  name  of 
Friends. 

The  Quakers  take  literally  all  the  words  which  they 
find  in  the  Scriptures.  Christ  said,  "swear  not  at  all" ; 
they  refuse  to  take  an  oath,  even  in  a  court  of  justice, 
and  would  rather  let  themselves  be  condemned  than  to 
violate  the  word  of  God.  The  Scriptures  forbid  the 
shedding  of  blood ;  and  they  refuse  to  become  soldiers. 
The  Scriptures  do  not  speak  of  tithes ;  and  they  refuse 
to  pay  them. 

While  admitting  the  truth  of  the  Scriptures,  the 
Quakers  take  into  consideration  only  their  own  inter- 
pretations and  their  own  inspiration;  and  they  arrive 
at  a  doctrine  very  different  from  the  other  Protestant 
doctrines.  "Protestantism,"  they  say,  "is  but  a  begin- 
ning of  a  reformation."  It  has  come  about  that  they 
admit  no  ceremony,  not  even  baptism  and  the  Lord's 
Supper,  they  reject  the  doctrine  of  original  sin  (which 
is  the  foundation  of  Protestantism),  and  they  declare 
that  the  doctrine  of  predestination  is  a  blasphemy,  for 
all  men  can  be  saved,  even  without  knowing  Christ, 
on  condition  that  they  follow  the  light  from  within, 
which  enlightens  the  whole  human  race.  But  this 
light  is  not  the  light  of  reason ;  the  Quakers  condemn 
the  philosophers  and  scorn  reason.     "It  is  the  art  of 


THE   REFORMATION  301 

rendering  obscure  that  which  is  clear,  it  makes  sceptics, 
and  not  believers." 

The  Pietists. — The  Quakers  were,  and  have  re- 
mained, a  purely  English  sect;  but  the  sect  of  the 
Pietists,  which  was  formed  in  Germany  about  the  end 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  starting  out  with  very 
different  principles,  reached  analogous  conclusions. 
The  Pietists  said  that  sincere  faith  should  be  tested  by 
works  in  imitation  of  the  life  of  Christ.  We  ought 
then  to  do  everything  in  honor  of  God,  in  hatred  of  the 
world.  "The  sincere  Christian  ought  neither  to  dance, 
nor  play  cards,  nor  go  to  the  theatre,  nor  even  read  the 
works  of  the  ancient  authors;  for  the  disciples  of 
Christ  ought  not  to  drink  of  the  mirey  waters  of  the 
pagans,  but  should  draw  the  truth  from  the  pure  foun- 
tains of  Israel."  In  hatred  of  the  established  church, 
which  they  had  found  cold  and  worldly,  the  Pietists 
sought  to  lead  a  "life  in  Christ";  they  kept  themselves 
aloof,  not  associating  with  those  who  lived  in  the  world 
of  society,  and  forming  separate  communities,  which 
gathered  together  in  order  to  sing,  pray  and  to  listen 
to  sermons  for  long  hours  at  a  time.  They  were  called 
Peace  Brotherhood ;  their  centre  was  at  Halle,  in 
Saxony.  From  this  sect  have  come  the  Moravians. 
Analogous  sentiments  gave  rise  to  the  sect  of  the 
Methodists  or  Wesleyans,  founded  about  the  year 
1729  in  England,  by  John  Wesley. 

Latitudinarians. — From  the  earliest  times  of  the 
Reformation  men  were  found  who  rejected,  in  the 
name  of  reason,  the  dogmas  of  the  Christians.  Two 
Italians,  the  Sozzini,  uncle  and  nephew,  taught  that 
one  should  believe  what  is  conformable  to  reason,  for 


302  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

"reason  is  the  eye  within  us,  which  helps  us  to  recog- 
nize the  truth."  In  consequence  they  rejected  all  the 
mysteries  of  Christianity,  the  Trinity,  the  Incarnation, 
original  sin,  the  Redemption,  the  sacraments.  Perse- 
cuted by  the  Catholics  in  Italy  and  by  the  Protestants 
in  Germany,  they  took  refuge  in  Poland,  where  they 
founded  the  sect  of  the  Socinians.  This  sect  was 
equally  detested  by  Protestants  and  by  Catholics.  Hol- 
land, which  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  had 
come  to  tolerate  all  the  sects,  was  not  yet  willing  to 
put  up  with  the  Socinians.  "The  God  of  the  Socin- 
ians," said  the  Protestant  pastor  Juriers,  "is  the  great- 
est of  all  monsters;  he  is  hardly  of  more  value  than 
the  Jupiter  of  the  pagans,  or  the  gods  of  Epicurus." 
"Few  people,"  says  a  writer  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, "dare  to  read  the  books  of  this  sect ;  to  declare  in 
favor  of  it  is  to  lose  honor,  repose,  property  and  life." 
The  sect,  exterminated  in  Poland,  has  vegetated  ob- 
scurely in  Transylvania;  but  its  doctrines  have  been 
taken  up  in  America  by  the  Unitarians  (who  reject  the 
Trinity)  and  are  to-day  the  adopted  belief  of  a  body  of 
Protestants. 

The  sect  of  the  Arminians,  founded  in  Holland  near 
the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  rejected  predestina- 
tion and  original  sin.  Calvin  had  said  that  all  men  are 
condemned  through  sin,  and  can  only  be  saved  by 
special  grace  vouchsafed  to  each  one;  the  Arminians 
declared  that  all  men,  even  the  pagans,  had  received 
sufficient  grace  from  God  in  order  to  save  them  from 
damnation;  it  was  enough  for  them  to  conform  to 
natural  law,  that  is,  to  be  good,  in  order  to  work  out 
their  salvation.    The  Arminians  quickly  brought  them- 


THE   REFORMATION  303 

selves  to  regard  creeds  and  ceremonies  as  secondary, 
and  to  especially  take  account  of  actions.  "Men  must 
be  judged  according  to  what  they  do,  not  by  what 
they  believe ;  holiness  consists  above  all  in  conducting 
oneself  well.'  That  was  putting  morals  in  the  place 
of  religion.  The  synod  of  Dordrecht  condemned x 
these  doctrines,  and  the  Dutch  Calvinists  condemned 
to  death  John  Barneveldt.  But  Arminianism  spread 
among  the  Protestants  in  England  and  in  France. 

Then  appeared  in  England  the  Latitudinarians,  who 
wanted  to  broaden  religion.  They  said  that  all  men 
could  be  saved,  for  grace  is  extended  to  all  men,  it  is 
universal ;  hence  the  name  Universalists  is  given  to 
them.  They  had  no  common  doctrine ;  some  accepted, 
others  rejected  the  Trinity  and  the  divinity  of  Christ ; 
but  they  all  agreed  upon  the  doctrine  that  no  one 
should  be  condemned  on  account  of  belief.  "God," 
they  said,  "takes  pleasure  in  the  homage  offered  to  him 
by  people,  each  in  his  own  way.  Good  conduct,  follow- 
ing the  light  of  reason,  is  what  is  agreeable  to  God. 
The  Latitudinarians  did  not  form  a  separate  sect ;  they 
were  generally  the  most  intelligent  men  of  their  time; 
they  lived  like  Milton  and  Locke  among  the  other 
Protestants :  "They  hide  in  the  bosom  of  the  church," 
said  one  of  their  enemies,  "and  will  devour  it  unless 
some  remedy  be  found  to  save  it."  In  fact  their  doc- 
trines had  finally,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  penetrated 
into  all  the  churches.    A  partisan  of  the  old  beliefs  was 

1  Zwingle  himself  had  been  despised  by  the  other  reformers, 
because  he  had  refused  to  condemn  the  pagans  to  eternal  dam- 
nation. "I  despair  of  his  salvation,"  said  Luther,  "for  he  has 
become  a  pagan  in  putting  the  impious  pagans  among  the  souls 
of  the  blessed." 


304  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

able  to  say :  "Who  is  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Arminians  and  Latitudinarians  have  per- 
meated Christianity?  All  who  pride  themselves  on 
having  some  intelligence  are  of  the  opinion  that  faith 
is  a  secondary  matter  and  that  piety  and  virtue  are  the 
essential  conditions  of  salvation." 


CHAPTER   XXI 
THE   COUNTER  REFORMATION 

THE   REORGANIZATION   OF   CATHOLICISM 

The  Reforms  of  the  Papacy. — The  Catholic  Chris- 
tians, who  had  refused  to  join  in  the  revolt  against  the 
pope,  and  to  abandon  the  traditions  of  the  church, 
desired,  however,  that  order  should  be  established  in 
the  church.  This  reform  could  be  accomplished  only 
through  the  authority  of  a  superior,  through  the  pope 
or  through  a  general  council.  Some  Italian  ecclesias- 
tics, well-educated  and  pious,  gathered  in  Rome  during 
the  reign  of  Leo  X.,  for  the  purpose  of  praying  to- 
gether, and  for  mutual  edification ;  thus  was  founded 
the  "Oratory  of  the  Divine  Love."  Many  of  them  be- 
came cardinals  (Contarini,  Caraffa,  Giberti),  and 
aided  Pope  Paul  III.  in  preparing  a  system  of  reform. 
The  pope  abolished  the  abuses  which  had  stirred  up  the 
faithful  against  the  court  at  Rome ;  he  stopped  the 
payment  of  money  for  pardons  and  the  granting  of 
dispensations  which  permitted  disobedience  to  the  laws 
of  the  church.  He  even  tried  to  bring  back  into  the 
fold  the  German  Protestants,  sending  some  cardinals 
to  Ratisbon  (1541),  who  discussed  beliefs  with  the 
doctors  of  the  Lutheran  church.  The  two  parties  had 
agreed  already  on  many  points,  but  concerning  the 
mass,  the  celibacy  of  the  priests,  original  sin,  penance 

305 


306  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

and  the  saints,  they  did  not  succeed  in  arriving  at  an 
understanding,  and  the  reconciliation  fell  through. 

The  surest  means  of  weakening  the  Protestants  was 
to  destroy  the  abuses,  which  had  driven  the  faithful 
from  the  church,  and  had  been  an  important  factor  in 
the  success  of  the  reform  movement.  The  bishops  be- 
gan a  surveillance  of  the  conduct  of  the  priests  and  of 
all  the  members  of  the  religious  orders,  so  that  scandal 
might  be  prevented.  Especially  had  the  prelates  been 
reproached  for  their  luxurious  and  worldly  manner 
of  living;  the  pope  himself  set  the  example,  and  lived 
like  a  hermit.  Then,  as  in  the  eleventh  and  thirteenth 
centuries,  the  clergy  made  an  effort  to  purify  the 
church,  infected  by  the  spirit  of  the  world.  The 
Franciscan  order  was  reformed  under  the  name  of 
Capuchins.  Other  orders  were  founded.  The  six- 
teenth century,  which  had  been  a  period  of  reform, 
was  also  a  century  of  saints;  Saint  Gaetan,  Saint 
Charles  Borromeo,  Saint  Francis  Xavier,  Saint  John 
of  God,  Saint  Ignatius,  Saint  Theresa,  Saint  Louis  of 
Gonzaga,  Saint  Philip  of  Neri. 

The  Jesuits. — As  the  Renaissance  of  the  eleventh 
century  had  given  rise  to  Cluny  and  Citeaux,  and  that 
of  the  thirteenth  to  the  mendicant  friars,  so  this  renais- 
sance of  piety  produced  a  new  religious  order.  This 
was  the  "Society  of  Jesus,"  founded  by  Ignatius 
Loyola,  in  order  to  combat  the  growing  heresies  of  the 
Protestants.  "The  world,"  said  the  founder,  "must 
be  represented  as  two  armies  in  battle  array,  one 
serving  under  God,  the  other  under  Satan."  The 
Protestants  are  with  Satan,  the  Society  of  Jesus  is 
fighting  in  the  army  of  God,  for  the  greatest  glory  of 


THE   COUNTER-REFORMATION  307 

God.1  It  is  organized  like  the  ancient  mendicant  or- 
ders, in  convents,  apportioned  into  provinces,  each 
under  a  superior;  the  general  governs  the  whole  so- 
ciety, and  is  in  the  service  of  the  pope.  But  the  organi- 
zation is  more  severely  ruled  than  are  the  other  orders. 
The  Jesuits,  besides  the  three  vows  usually  taken  by 
the  monks,  take  the  vow  of  obedience  to  the  pope. 

The  great  innovation,  which  has  made  the  Jesuits 
so  powerful,  is  the  organization  of  a  system  of  spiritual 
exercises,  a  method  of  training  the  soldier  of  Christ 
in  the  faith  and  in  obedience.  These  exercises,  "by 
which  they  learn  how  to  vanquish  self,"  have  in  view 
the  detachment  from  the  things  of  this  world,  for  the 
novice  who  is  about  to  enter  the  Society,  and  to  pre- 
pare him  to  become  a  good  soldier  of  the  faith.  The 
novice  must  meditate  five  hours  a  day,  for  some  weeks, 
alone,  in  his  cell,  without  seeing  any  one  from  the  out- 
side, without  speaking  to  any  friar  or  monk,  without 
reading  or  writing  anything  that  does  not  relate  to  the 
meditations  of  the  day.  He  must  represent  to  himself 
in  imagination  the  things  pertaining  to  religion ;  "for 
example,  a  mountain  on  which  are  Jesus  Christ  and  the 
Virgin,  or  again  Christ  with  the  saints  and  the  angels 
in  a  large  field  near  Jerusalem,  and  in  front  of  them 
Lucifer,  chief  of  the  impious,  or  in  another  field  near 
to  Babylon  placed  upon  a  seat  of  fire  and  smoke,  horri- 
ble to  contemplate." 

When  the  novice  comes  to  meditate  on  hell,  "the 
first  point  is  to  contemplate  through  imagination  the 

1  Ad  majorem  Dei  gloriam,  is  the  device  of  the  "Society  of 

iesus:"  it  is  put  in  the  form  of  the  initials,  A.  M.  D.  G.  at  the 
ead  of  every  book  written  by  a  Jesuit. 


308  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

vast  conflagrations  in  hell,  and  the  souls  encompassed 
by  real  fire ;  the  second  point  is  to  hear,  in  imagination, 
the  moans,  sobs  and  groans ;  the  third  is  to  breathe,  in 
imagination,  the  smoke,  the  sulphur,  the  stench  of  a 
sink  of  rottenness;  the  fourth  is  to  taste,  in  imagina- 
tion, the  most  bitter  things;  the  fifth  to  touch  those 
fires,  contact  with  which  consumes  the  souls  of  men." 
The  novice  must  come  to  the  point  of  having  no  will 
of  his  own. 

No  one  is  admitted  to  the  order  until  he  has  passed 
two  years  as  a  novice  in  some  Jesuit  convent  or  school, 
where  he  has  gone  through  many  tests  of  his  faith; 
exercises  in  meditation,  service  in  the  hospitals,  domes- 
tic service,  travelling  without  money,  teaching  chil- 
dren, preaching  and  confessing. 

The  Jesuits  in  the  World. — In  the  book  of  the  con- 
stitutions used  for  the  regulation  of  the  "Society  of 
Jesus,"  it  is  declared :  "that  we  intend,  with  the  aid  of 
divine  grace,  to  labor  not  only  for  the  salvation  and 
perfection  of  the  members  of  the  Society,  but  to  work 
with  all  our  might  for  the  salvation  and  perfection  of 
our  neighbor."  Therefore  the  Jesuits,  as  well  as  the 
Franciscans  and  Dominicans,  mingle  with  the  world, 
but  they  do  it  more  generally  and  more  perfectly. 
They  do  not  wear  the  garments  of  a  monk,  but  those  of 
the  secular  priests,  and  they  employ  every  means  of 
strengthening  the  faith  and  of  weakening  heresy. 

Some  preach  in  order  to  convert  the  heretics  and  to 
confirm  the  wavering  Christians.  Others  become  con- 
fessors and  directors  of  the  conscience  of  the  princes, 
for  the  purpose  of  persuading  them  to  take  measures 
favorable  to  Catholicism.    Others  go  into  lands  which 


THE   COUNTER-REFORMATION  309 

are  still  pagan,  to  win  over  souls  to  the  faith.  Others 
work  as  historians  or  as  philosophers,  and  write 
books  to  prove  the  superiority  of  the  pope.  Others 
are  charged  with  the  instruction  of  young  people.  The 
superiors  assign  to  each  one  his  task,  and  the  Society 
has  also  in  its  service  laymen,  who  are  affiliated  with 
the  order,  and  work  in  its  interest  and  under  its  direc- 
tion. The  monks  of  the  Middle  Ages  lived  in  the 
country;  the  Jesuits,  on  the  contrary,  are  always  set- 
tled in  towns,  because  henceforth  everything  must  be 
decided  in  the  towns,  and  one  must  live  in  them  in 
order  to  rule  the  world. 

Of  all  the  means  employed  by  the  Jesuits  in  order 
to  control  the  laity,  the  two  most  powerful  were  edu- 
cation and  confession.  In  the  towns  where  they  had 
been  able  to  establish  themselves  the  Jesuits  founded 
colleges,  where  they  received  the  children  of  the  nobles 
and  of  the  rich  bourgeoisie.  These  colleges  which  the 
Jesuits  called  the  "fortresses  of  the  faith,"  were  to 
labor  in  training  men  of  the  world  and  Catholics.  The 
pupils  were  accustomed  to  the  exercises  of  devotion, 
especially  "those  which  impiety  had  sought  to  de- 
stroy" (that  is,  which  the  Protestants  had  set  aside), 
processions,  pilgrimages,  the  worship  of  relics.  But 
they  were  also  taught  politeness  and  the  fine  manners 
unknown  in  the  schools  of  the  Middle  Ages ;  it 
was  desired  that  they  should  be  able  to  appear  and 
speak  with  elegance.  The  Jesuits  taught  their  pupils 
as  if  they  were  to  be  gentlemen,  who  would  never  have 
to  work  in  order  to  gain  their  daily  bread ;  they  were 
taught  nothing  but  Latin  and  mathematics.  The  in- 
struction was  modelled  on  the  famous  plan  of  study 


810  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

(ratio  studiortim),  which  for  two  centuries  has  pre- 
vailed in  the  education  of  youth.  It  was  the  Jesuits 
who  thought  of  dividing  pupils  into  classes,  of  giving 
prizes  to  the  best  pupils,  of  publishing  special  editions 
of  the  ancient  authors  for  use  in  the  classes  (whence 
the  name  classics),  of  having  Latin  exercises,  verses 
and  orations  written  by  the  pupils. 

When  Napoleon  created  the  University  of  France, 
the  Jesuit *  system  had  been  adopted  in  all  the  French 
colleges,  although  the  purpose  of  the  instruction  was 
quite  different;  Latin  and  mathematics  were  at  that 
time,  and  have  since  remained,  the  foundation  of  a 
course  of  study. 

The  Jesuits,  being  greatly  sought  after  for  con- 
fessors, have  brought  to  perfection  the  art  of  confes- 
sing, and  of  directing  the  conscience.  They  had  to 
continually  decide  upon  the  confessions  made  by  their 
penitents,  so  as  to  suit  the  penance  to  the  enormity  of 
the  offence.  They  have  to  study  the  cases,  which  may 
be  presented,  investigate  what  actions  must  be  regarded 
as  sins  and  in  what  measure,  decide  whether  a  sin 
belongs  to  the  species  of  venial  (pardonable)  sins  or 
of  mortal  sins.  For  example,  a  judge  has  to  decide  in 
a  suit  where  the  two  parties  appear  to  him  to  have 
equally  just  claims;  one  of  the  two  parties  gives  him  a 
sum  of  money,  and  the  judge  pronounces  judgment  in 
his  favor;  has  the  judge  committed  a  sin?  Those 
who  studied  cases  of  conscience  were  called  casuists; 
the  greater  number  were  Spaniards.  In  this  manner 
the  science  of  casuistry  was  devised,  for  which  the 
Jesuits  have  so  often  been  upbraided  by  their  enemeis. 
1  The  College  Louis-le-Grand  served  as  a  model. 


THE   COUNTER-REFORMATION  311 

The  Jesuits  were  distinguished  from  the  ancient 
orders  of  monks  by  their  gentle  and  polished  manners ; 
they  made  themselves  loved  especially  in  the  upper 
classes ;  and  as  they  had  the  strongest  organization  and 
the  most  effective  methods,  they  soon  became,  and  have 
remained  for  three  centuries,  the  most  powerful 
religious  order  in  the  church,  and  the  one  most  for- 
midable to  the  Protestants. 

The  Council  of  Trent — From  the  moment  that  the 
Reformation  broke  out  many  Catholics  demanded  a 
general  council,  in  order  to  reorganize  the  church  and 
reform  the  abuses  which  had  given  the  Protestants  a 
motive  for  revolt.  But  the  council  could  not  be  assem- 
bled as  long  as  the  pope  was  at  war  with  Charles  V., 
and  the  Reformation  had  time  to  win  over  all  Germany 
before  they  came  to  terms.  The  council,  which  was 
finally  convoked  at  Trent  in  the  territory  of  the  em- 
peror, was  twice  interrupted,  and  could  not  deliberate 
until  twenty  years  had  passed  after  the  first  convoca- 
tion. The  assembly  was  formed  of  the  bishops  of  four 
nations,  Italy,  Spain,  Germany,  France;  England  was 
not  represented  there.  But  the  Italians  alone  were 
more  numerous  than  all  the  others  together;  as  they 
voted  individually,  and  not  by  nationality,  they,  the 
Italians,  formed  the  majority,  and  after  long  discus- 
sions they  finally  voted  for  all  the  resolutions 
demanded  by  the  pope. 

The  aim  of  the  council  was  to  state  precisely  the 
belief  of  the  church,  and  to  strengthen  the  discipline. 
The  Emperor  of  Germany  demanded  the  acceptance 
of  some  of  the  Protestant  reforms,  communion  under 
two  kinds,  the  marriage  of  priests,  the  suppression  of 


312  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

fasts,  the  hymns  in  German,  the  revision  of  the  bre- 
viary. The  council  refused;  it  sought,  not  to  bring 
back  the  Protestants,  but  to  combat  their  errors.  It 
maintained  all  that  they  had  rejected,  mass,  justifica- 
tion by  works,  worship  of  the  saints,  fasts,  sacra- 
ments, purgatory,  indulgences;  it  condemned  all  their 
doctrines  under  the  form  of  anathemas;  for  example: 
"If  some  one  should  say  that  the  canon  of  the  mass 
contains  error,  and  ought  to  be  suppressed,  let  him  be 
anathema."  To  summarize  the  Catholic  faith  and  to 
set  it  in  opposition  to  the  Protestant  heresy,  the  coun- 
cil drew  up  a  catechism  of  questions  and  answers, 
which  was  to  be  taught  to  the  believers. 

In  order  to  strengthen  the  discipline  the  council 
ordered  that  the  bishops  should  have  the  clergy  of 
their  parishes  under  surveillance,  and  that  they  should 
found  seminaries  (nurseries),  where  young  priests 
should  be  instructed,  and  to  take  care  that  the  laymen 
themselves  faithfully  fulfilled  their  duty  as  Christians. 

The  councils  of  the  fifteenth  century  had  declared  all 
councils  superior  to  the  pope :  the  Council  of  Trent, 
on  the  contrary,  before  separating,  asked  the  pope  to 
ratify  its  decisions ;  this  was  a  recognition  of  the  pope 
as  superior  to  the  council. 

The  greater  number  of  Catholic  sovereigns,  even 
the  King  of  Spain,  refused  to  accept  all  the  canons  of 
the  council ;  some  of  the  decisions  were  administered 
only  in  Italy  and  in  Austria.  The  result  of  the  council 
was  the  complete  subjection  of  the  church  to  the  abso- 
lute authority  of  the  pope. 

The  Propaganda. — The  Catholic  church,  having  re- 
formed its  morals,  and  strengthened  its  organization, 


THE   COUNTER-REFORMATION  313 

labored  from  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  with 
the  purpose  of  augmenting  its  numbers.  The  Society 
of  Jesus  directed  the  movement,  and  the  greater  num- 
ber of  the  missionaries  were  Jesuits.  The  Jesuits  had 
to  operate  in  two  widely  different  fields,  in  pagan  coun- 
tries and  in  Protestant  countries. 

The  great  discoveries  made  by  the  Portuguese  and 
the  Spaniards  had  just  revealed  a  great  pagan  world 
in  America  and  in  Asia.  In  America  the  missionaries, 
protected  by  the  Spanish  government,  converted  almost 
all  the  savages,  and  in  Paraguay  even  organized  them 
into  a  social  body.  In  the  Indies,  Saint  Francis 
Xavier  founded  on  the  Coromandel  coast,  near  to  the 
Portuguese  colonies,  one  hundred  and  forty  Christ- 
tian  communities,  and  the  college  of  the  Jesuits  at  Goa, 
which  continued  making  converts.  The  other  religious 
orders  had  called  to  their  side  the  parias,  which  had 
for  a  result  the  contemptuous  treatment  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  by  the  Hindus;  the  Jesuits,  accustomed 
to  work  especially  among  the  upper  classes  of  society, 
turned  to  the  Brahmins,  and  sought  to  convert  them 
by  discussions  in  regard  to  belief.  In  China  and  in 
Japan  the  missionaries  succeeded  in  gaining  the  favor 
of  the  sovereigns  by  introducing  themselves  as  mathe- 
maticians and  physicians ;  they  were  allowed  to  settle 
there  and  found  communities  of  Chinese  Christians. 
The  other  religious  orders,  jealous  of  the  Jesuits,  suc- 
ceeded in  having  the  pope  take  away  their  missions 
from  them,  of  which  they  themselves  took  possession ; 
but  they  irritated  the  Chinese  sovereigns,  who  began 
to  persecute  their  Christian  subjects  and  ended  by 
exterminating  them. 


314  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

In  the  Protestant  countries,  where  it  was  a  question 
of  bringing  the  heretics  back  to  the  Catholic  faith, 
missions  were  also  organized :  the  friars  went  through 
the  Protestant  countries  preaching  and  lecturing  in 
order  to  persuade  men  to  believe.  As  for  the  children, 
education  was  depended  upon  for  their  conversion ; 
in  Germany,  especially,  the  Protestant  nobles  put  their 
children  into  the  Jesuit  colleges,  where  they  found  the 
best  system  of  education.  "It  is  almost  incredible," 
said  the  Jesuit  Ribadeneira,  "how  profitable  education 
is  to  the  Society  of  Jesus  and  to  the  Christian  faith ; 
it  keeps  the  Catholic  children  in  the  religion  of  their 
fathers  and  brings  back  to  the  church  a  great  number 
of  the  children  of  heretical  families,  and  these  children 
in  turn  convert  their  parents." 

In  the  eighteenth  century  the  pope  founded  at  Rome 
a  society  for  the  purpose  of  directing  the  efforts  of 
the  missionaries.  This  was  the  Society  of  the  Propa- 
ganda (propagandas  fidei,  in  order  to  propagate  the 
faith). 

RELIGIOUS    STRIFE 

Intolerance — In  the  Middle  Ages  all  the  Christians 
of  the  Occident  were  united  in  one  and  the  same  faith, 
and  formed  a  single  church,  the  church  universal 
(Catholic)  :  it  was  compared  to  the  "tunic  without 
seam"  of  Christ.  The  Reformation  tore  this  seamless 
tunic  and  divided  the  Christians  into  two  hostile  camps, 
the  Catholics  and  the  Protestants.  Each  of  the  two 
parties  believed  that  it  alone  had  the  true  religion,  and 
claimed  to  support  the  laws  of  God  against  the  party 
of  the  devil.     The  Catholics  regarded  the  Protestants 


THE   COUNTER-REFORMATION  315 

as  sacrilegious,  because  they  rejected  the  ceremonies 
of  the  church;  the  Protestants  called  the  Catholics 
idolaters,  because  they-  venerated  pictures  and  relics. 
No  one  of  the  two  parties  would  tolerate  the  other. 
As  the  church  and  state  had  always  operated  in  com- 
mon, the  people  were  accustomed  to  look  upon  religious 
affairs  as  being  closely  bound  up  with  political  affairs. 
They  could  not  conceive  that  a  society  of  men  having 
different  creeds  could  be  formed,  nor  that  a  government 
could  be  disinterested  concerning  questions  of  religion. 
Neither  the  clergy  nor  the  reformers,  nor  the  princes 
believed  that  they  had  the  right  even  to  endure  the 
practice  of  a  false  religion.  Upon  this  point  the  Catho- 
lics were  in  perfect  accord  with  the  Protestants.  "The 
interest  of  the  state,"  wrote  Philip  II.,  the  emperor, 
"is  bound  so  closely  to  the  maintenance  of  religion 
that  neither  the  authority  of  the  princes  nor  concord 
among  the  subjects  can  exist  where  there  are  two 
different  religions.  I  would  rather  lose  all  my  states, 
and  even  a  hundred  lives  if  I  had  them,  than  to  accept 
the  seigniory  of  heretics.  It  would  be  far  better  to 
have  a  ruined  kingdom  while  preserving  it  intact  for 
God  than  to  have  a  kingdom  intact  for  the  benefit 
of  the  devil  and  the  heretics,  his  votaries."  The  Sor- 
bonne,  in  censuring  the  doctrine  of  Luther,  called  it  an 
"impious  insolence,  which  must  be  vanquished  by 
chains,  and  even  by  flames  rather  than  by  reason." 
Pope  Pius  V.  said :  "Do  not  spare  the  enemies  of  God, 
for  they  have  never  spared  God.  As  there  is  but  one 
sun,  and  one  king,  so  there  must  be  but  one  religion." 
Luther  recommended  the  princes  to  use  rigorous 
measures  with  the  sectaries,  "for  the  sects  are  an  inspi- 


316  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

ration  of  the  devil."  Theodore  de  Beze  called  liberty 
of  conscience  a  "diabolical  dogma,"  and  Calvin,  learn- 
ing of  the  flight  of  a  theologian  who  thought  other- 
wise than  himself,  wrote:  "Knowing  what  manner  of 
man  he  is,  I  would  rather  have  wished  that  he  were 
rotting  in  some  ditch.  .  .  .  And  I  assure  you  that 
in  order  to  do  my  duty  it  would  have  made  no  differ- 
ence to  me  if  he  had  gone  to  the  stake."  Intolerance 
was  still  the  general  principle  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. "The  Protestants,"  said  Bossuet,  "are  in  accord 
with  us,  that  the  Christian  princes  have  the  right  to 
make  use  of  the  sword  against  their  subjects,  who  are 
hostile  to  the  church  and  to  the  holy  doctrine." 

In  this  intolerant  society  the  religious  broils  pro- 
duced immediately  a  general  disturbance  such  as  had 
never  been  seen  in  Europe.  The  quarrel  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  calendar  marked  the  hatred  of  the  two 
religions.  Pope  Gregory  having  rectified  the  calendar 
in  1582,  the  Protestant  princes  preferred  to  keep  the 
old  one,  rather  than  to  use  the  Gregorian  calendar, 
because  it  came  from  the  pope.  This  opposition 
lasted   in   England   until    1752    and   in   Sweden  until 

1753- 

In  all  the  countries  of  Europe  each  party  sought  the 

extermination  of  the  other  by  force.  Then  began : 
persecutions  in  places  where  one  of  the  religions  was 
dominant,  and  where  the  other  had  only  isolated  parti- 
sans ;  civil  wars  where  the  two  parties  were  sufficiently 
numerous  to  have  recourse  to  arms;  then  wars  be- 
tween the  Catholic  and  the  Protestant  countries.  These 
disturbances  lasted  for  more  than  a  century,  until  the 
time  when  the  dominant  party  in  each  country  had 


THE   COUNTER-REFORMATION  317 

exterminated  the  other,  or  when  it  became  resigned  to 
endure  its  presence. 

Catholic  Persecution — The  church  had  already  in 
the  thirteenth  century  employed  the  tribunal  of  the 
Inquisition  for  the  extermination  of  the  heretics.  This 
tribunal  was  composed  of  clergy  who  had  the  right 
to  arrest,  examine  and  condemn  whoever  had  departed 
from  the  faith ;  but  in  the  sixteenth  century  the  Inqui- 
sition was  operative  only  in  Spain.  The  pope  re-estab- 
lished it  in  1542  by  the  bull  "Licet  ab  initio."  He 
appointed  some  cardinals  as  inquisitor-commissioners 
of  the  Holy  See,  and  gave  them  the  right  to  delegate  to 
certain  ecclesiastics  the  power  "to  inquire  concerning 
the  faith  of  persons  of  any  rank  or  condition,  to  punish 
the  culprits,  to  confiscate  their  property  and  to  extir- 
pate errors  of  doctrine  by  any  means  whatever."  Soon 
one  of  the  inquisitor-cardinals,  Caraffa,  became  pope 
under  the  name  of  Paul  IV.  To  organize  the  Inquisi- 
tion in  any  country  the  consent  of  the  government 
was  necessary;  the  pope  negotiated  with  the  princes 
in  order  to  obtain  it.  He  succeeded  with  almost  all 
the  governments  of  Italy.  In  Spain,  where  the  Inqui- 
sition had  been  reorganized  against  the  Moors  and  the 
Jews,  it  was  turned  against  the  Protestants,  and  at 
the  auto  da  fes  chiefly  heretics  x  were  burned.  The 
other  Catholic  governments  would  not  have  a  special 
tribunal ;  but  they  did  not  intend  to  let  the  heretics  go 
unpunished.     They  issued  edicts  to  recall  the  fact  that 

1  The  figures  of  the  victims  of  the  Inquisition,  from  the  end 
of  the  fifteenth  century  down  to  1808,  have  often  been  given, 
according  to  the  report  of  Llorente,  the  secretary  of  the  In- 
quisition: 30,000  burned  alive,  290,000  condemned  to  be 
scourged  or  imprisoned.  It  is  dilhcult  to  learn  how  far  these 
figures  are  correct. 


318  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

heresy  was  a  capital  crime,  and  to  pronounce  judgment 
against  those  of  their  subjects  who  were  convicted  of 
it.  The  ordinary  tribunals  were  charged  with  the 
adjudication;  they  proceeded  against  the  heretics  as 
they  did  against  thieves  and  assassins ;  they  imprisoned 
them,  put  them  to  torture  and  condemned  them  to 
death.  According  to  the  custom  of  the  time,  the  pun- 
ishment consisted  in  burning  them  at  the  stake ;  some- 
times the  hand  was  cut  off,  or  the  tongue  cut  out 
before  the  execution  took  place.  The  parliament  at 
Aix  (1545)  even  condemned  to  death  all  the  Vaudois 
in  Provence;  it  sent  a  regiment  into  the  province, 
which  destroyed  their  villages  and  massacred  all  that 
could  be  reached,  men,  women  and  children;  the  sur- 
vivors were  sent  to  the  galleys.  In  the  seventeenth 
century  the  procedure  became  less  violent.  They 
ceased  burning  the  Protestants,  and  were  content  to 
drive  them  away  and  to  confiscate  their  property.  In 
Austria  the  commissioners,  accompanied  by  muske- 
teers, went  into  the  villages,  drove  away  the  pastors, 
blew  up  the  temples  of  worship,  and  forced  the  inhab- 
itants to  become  Catholics  or  to  emigrate.  In  France, 
Louis  XIV.  ordered  the  pastors  to  leave  the  kingdom, 
but  the  Protestants  were  obliged  to  remain.  The  pas- 
tors who  tried  to  stay,  or  to  return,  and  the  laity,  who 
sought  to  escape,  were  sent  to  the  galleys. 

The  persecution  was  brought  to  bear,  not  only  upon 
individuals,  but  on  writings.  As  the  reform  had  been 
propagated  by  books,  the  Catholic  governments  re- 
solved upon  a  rigid  surveillance.  Commissions  were 
instituted,  which  were  charged  with  the  examination 
of  each  work  before  it  was  allowed  to  be  published. 


THE   COUNTER-REFORMATION  319 

Every  bookseller  who  published  a  book  without  having 
it  first  examined  was  to  be  punished  with  confiscation 
of  goods,  with  the  galleys  or  death.  The  same  penal- 
ties were  on  all  who  sold  heretical  books  throughout 
the  country.  An  edict  issued  in  Belgium  (1531)  de- 
clared that  whoever  caused  the  distribution  of  the 
works  of  Luther  should  "be  so  deeply  marked  with  a 
red-hot  iron,  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  that  it  could  not 
be  effaced,  and  also  would  have  an  eye  put  out  and  a 
hand  cut  off."  In  order  to  make  the  condemned  works 
known  the  pope  organized  at  Rome  a  special  congre- 
gation, called  the  "Index,"  which  still  exists;  it  is 
charged  with  publishing  an  index,  that  is,  a  list  of  the 
prohibited  works  which  no  Catholic  was  to  read,  and 
which  were  to  be  burned  wherever  they  may  be  found. 
Thus  came  into  existence  the  censorship,  which  has 
for  a  long  time  been  an  instrument  of  religious  sur- 
veillance, and  was  to  become  later  an  instrument  of 
political  power. 

The  Protestant  Persecution — In  the  countries  where 
the  Reformation  was  adopted  by  the  government  the 
articles  of  faith  drawn  up  by  the  Protestants  became 
the  laws  of  the  state.  Whoever  refused  to  obey  them 
was  prosecuted  as  a  rebel.  The  Protestant  princes  and 
the  councils  of  the  free  cities  forbade  the  celebration 
of  mass  in  their  states,  and  expelled  the  priests  and 
monks.  In  England  all  functionaries  were  obliged  to 
swear  that  they  recognized  no  other  head  of  the  church 
than  the  king  himself;  the  Catholics,  who  could  not 
take  the  oath,  were  excluded  from  all  offices,  and  were 
sometimes  declared  incapable  of  possessing  any  land 
in  the  country,  of  bequeathing  their  property  or  of 


320  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

receiving  any  legacies.  Often  they  were  expelled,  or 
their  possessions  confiscated.  Under  the  pretext  that 
to  recognize  the  authority  of  the  pope  was  to  deny  the 
supremacy  of  the  king,  the  English  tribunals  often 
accused  the  Catholics  of  the  crime  of  high  treason, 
and  condemned  them  to  death.  The  modes  of  execu- 
tion differed ;  the  Catholic  tribunals  caused  the  heretics 
to  be  burned,  the  Protestant  courts  had  the  Catholics 
decapitated. 

Just  as  the  church  followed  up  the  heretical  books,  so 
did  the  Protestants  make  war  on  the  Catholic  pictures. 
Not  only  did  they  carry  them  off"  from  the  churches 
which  affected  the  Protestant  worship,  but  they  entered 
by  force  into  the  Catholic  churches,  destroyed  there 
the  crosses,  the  ornaments  of  the  church,  the  pictures 
and  statues  of  the  Virgin  and  of  the  saints.  The 
Calvinists  were  especially  bitter  in  regard  to  these 
"signs  of  idolatry,"  as  they  called  them.  Those  in 
Scotland  systematically  destroyed  all  the  religious  em- 
blems. In  France  and  in  Belgium  bands  went  through 
the  land  for  the  purpose  of  ravaging  the  churches. 
In  1560  the  Huguenot  soldiers,  masters  of  Orleans, 
had  set  about  devastating  the  churches ;  their  chief,  the 
Prince  de  Conde,  wanted  to  arrest  them ;  spying  out 
a  soldier  who  was  occupied  in  beating  down  the  statue 
of  a  saint,  which  was  placed  so  high  that  it  was  difficult 
to  reach,  the  prince  aimed  at  him,  and  threatened  to 
fire  if  he  did  not  at  once  descend.  "Monseigneur, 
said  the  Huguenot,  "you  can  kill  me  if  you  desire,  but 
first  let  me  break  down  this  idol." 

The  Wars. — In  the  countries  where  the  population 
was  divided  between  the  Catholic  church  and  Protes- 


j>  * 


THE   COUNTER-REFORMATION  321 

tantism,  the  two  parties  took  arms,  and  civil  war  broke 
out.  In  Switzerland  it  was  a  war  between  the  cantons 
(it  began  in  the  time  of  Zwingli). 

In  Germany,  where  the  first  religious  war  took  place, 
it  was  a  struggle  between  the  emperor  and  the  princes. 
Each  prince,  each  free  city  formed  an  independent 
state;  twice,  at  very  long  intervals,  in  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries,  the  emperor  engaged  in 
war  in  order  to  impose  a  regulation  of  religious 
affairs  upon  the  princes  and  upon  the  free  cities.  The 
quarrel  bore  especially  on  the  property  of  the  church, 
which  was  considerable  in  Germany,  and  had  been 
appropriated  by  the  Protestant  princes.  Twice  the 
emperor  was  the  victor,  and  promulgated  an  edict 
which  restored  the  property  to  the  church  (the  Interim 
of  Augsburg  of  1547,  the  Edict  of  Restitution,  1629). 
Twice  the  Protestant  princes  aided  by  the  Catholic 
King  of  France  forced  the  emperor  to  recognize  their 
independence  (peace  of  Augsburg,  1556,  peace  of 
Westphalia,  1648).  In  the  countries  where  the  sover- 
eign was  a  Catholic,  in  France,  in  the  Low  Countries, 
in  Scotland,1  the  struggle  took  the  form  of  a  revolt 
of  the  subjects  against  the  king.  The  war  was 
short  in  Scotland ;  it  lasted  about  twenty  years  in 
Holland ;  about  forty  in  France ;  it  was  sustained  by 
the  nobles,  who  were  accustomed  to  the  use  of  arms, 
and  by  the  bourgeois ;  the  peasants,  who  were  used  to 
obedience,  took  but  little  interest  in  it. 

They  were  very  bloody  wars,  where  the  participants 
considered  an  act  of  cruelty  to  an  adversary  as  most 

1  The  Queen,  Mary  Stuart,  was  a  Catholic;  the  Regent  favored 
the  Protestants. 


322  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

agreeable  to  God;  the  prisoners  were  often  treated  as 
criminals.  In  France,  Montluc,  a  Catholic  captain, 
boasted  of  having  hung  his  prisoners  to  the  trees  along 
the  roadside;  Baron  des  Adrets,  a  Protestant  captain, 
had  his  captives  thrown  from  the  top  of  a  high  tower. 
Often  women  and  children  were  killed,  as  in  the  massa- 
cres of  Vassy  and  of  Saint  Bartholomew.  To  sacrifice 
life  in  the  assassination  of  the  chief  of  the  hostile  party 
was  regarded  as  a  heroic  act  by  the  fanatics  of  both 
parties.  So  perished  Francis  of  Guise,  William  the 
Silent  and  Henry  III. 

They  were  ruinous  wars,  for  fighting  was  going  on 
everywhere  at  the  same  time.  The  land  was  full  of 
chiefs  with  bands,  who  under  the  pretense  of  religion, 
scoured  the  country  at  the  head  of  their  companies  of 
adventurers,  living  by  pillage  and  by  forced  contribu- 
tions, arresting,  ransoming,  torturing  the  partisans 
of  the  other  religion,  and  doing  much  more  harm  to 
the  inhabitants  than  to  the  soldiers  of  the  hostile  party. 
There  were  few  great  battles ;  none  of  the  combatants 
could  gather  great  armies.  The  war  was  especially 
a  war  of  sieges,  which  consisted  in  taking  the  fortified 
towns. 

There  was  almost  no  large  village  in  the  sixteenth 
century  which  was  not  surrounded  by  walls  and  con- 
sidered a  fortified  town.  These  thousands  of  small 
places,  incapable  of  sustaining  a  siege,  were  continu- 
ally taken  and  retaken,  sometimes  by  force,  sometimes 
by  treachery,  for  there  were  always,  in  every  place 
occupied  by  one  of  these  parties,  some  of  the  inhabit- 
ants who  were  ready  to  have  a  band  of  the  other  party 
enter  and  take  possession.    When  the  place  was  taken 


THE   COUNTER-REFORMATION  323 

by  assault,  it  was  the  custom  to  abandon  it  to  the  sol- 
diers, who  sacked  the  dwellings  and  massacred  the 
inhabitants,  unless  they  preferred  to  make  them  pay 
a  ransom.  The  war  carried  on  in  this  way  prevented 
the  cultivation  of  the  country  and  destroyed  commerce ; 
it  ruined  both  bourgeois  and  peasants. 


CHAPTER   XXII 
PHILIP   II.,   ELIZABETH,   HENRY  IV. 

PHILIP    II. 

The  Reformation  in  Europe. — The  greater  number 
of  the  princes  who,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  demanded 
a  reform  in  the  church,  hoped  that  this  reform  would 
be  accomplished  through  a  universal  council.  When 
they  saw  how  difficult  it  was  to  get  this  council  to- 
gether some  of  them  decided  that  they  would  undertake 
the  reform  for  their  own  benefit.  For  this  reason  many 
German  princes  became  Lutherans,  and  after  a  strug- 
gle of  twenty  years  they  obliged  the  emperor  to  leave 
them  to  be  masters  of  religious  affairs  in  their  own 
territories.  The  kings  of  Sweden  and  of  Denmark 
did  the  same  thing.  So  the  Lutheran  reform  took  the 
shape  of  a  revolt  against  the  pope.  That  was  the 
first  movement;  it  took  place  about  1520- 1540,  and 
only  extended  through  the  German  countries. 

Then  began  a  second  movement;  it  started  at 
Geneva,  where  Calvin  had  just  established  a  new 
religious  organization.  This  was  the  Calvinistic  re- 
form. It  was  introduced  into  all  the  countries  of 
Europe,  in  France,  in  England,  in  Scotland,  in  the 
Low  Countries,  in  Holland,  in  Bohemia,  in  Poland. 
This  time  it  was  no  longer  the  princes  only,  but  it 

324 


PHILIP   II.,   ELIZABETH,    HENRY   IV.  325 

was  the  seigniors,  the  nobles,  the  bourgeois,  who  took 
part  in  it. 

In  the  countries  where  the  sovereign  was  a  Catholic, 
and  wanted  to  maintain  the  church  under  the  authority 
of  the  pope,  the  Calvinistic  reform  was  regarded  as  a 
revolt  against  the  pope  and  also  against  the  sovereign. 
The  Calvinists  profited  by  the  war  between  the  two 
great  Catholic  sovereigns  of  Europe;  their  doctrines 
were  scattered  abroad,  especially  between  the  years 
1 555-1 560,  while  the  pope  and  the  King  of  Spain  were 
occupied  in  fighting  each  other. 

Contest  with  Protestantism. — In  concluding  the 
peace  of  Cateau-Cambresis,  the  kings  of  Spain  and  of 
France  had  formed  the  project  of  operating  in  common 
for  the  extirpation  of  heresy;  Henry  II.  even  offered 
to  join  in  a  campaign  for  the  purpose  of  destroying 
Geneva,  the  centre  of  Calvanism.  But  he  died  sud- 
denly by  an  accident,  and  as  his  sons  were  too  young 
to  govern,  the  great  lords  disputed  among  themselves 
as  to  who  should  exercise  the  power  in  the  name  of 
the  young  king. 

The  King  of  Spain,  the  emperor  and  the  pope 
worked  individually  to  re-establish  order  in  the  church  ; 
the  Council  of  Trent  succeeded  finally  in  bringing 
about  this  order,  declared  that  all  the  Protestants  were 
heretics,  and  took  measures  toward  reorganizing  the 
church  in  the  countries  which  had  remained  faithful 
to  the  pope.  The  Catholics  did  not  intend  to  give  up 
the  re-establishment  of  papal  authority  in  the  Protes- 
tant countries;  under  the  direction  of  the  Jesuits,  they 
began  to  assume  the  offensive  and  sought  to  convert  or 
to  exterminate  the  heretics.     This  work  did  not  seem 


326  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

impossible;  the  Protestants  were  wholly  masters  only 
in  the  small  kingdoms  of  Sweden  and  Denmark ;  even 
in  Germany  and  in  Switzerland  they  formed  but  a 
minority.  In  all  the  other  countries  the  sovereign 
and  the  largest  part  of  the  nation  were  opposed  to 
them.  More  than  that  they  were  without  an  organiza- 
tion, incapable  of  agreeing  among  themselves  for  the 
purpose  of  resisting  in  common ;  the  Lutherans  re- 
garded the  Calvinists  as  heretics  and  impious;  they 
said  that  they  preferred  the  Anti-Christ  of  Rome  (the 
pope)  to  the  Anti-Christ  of  Geneva  (Calvin).  The 
Protestants  had  neither  money  nor  army,  and  did  not 
even  know  what  they  wanted.  The  Catholics,  on  the 
contrary,  had  a  fixed  purpose,  a  strong  organization 
and  a  common  head,  the  pope.  During  the  last  third 
of  the  sixteenth  century  it  seemed  as  if  they  were  about 
to  succeed  in  crushing  out  their  adversaries. 

Philip  II. — It  was  the  head  of  the  principal  branch 
of  the  house  of  Austria,  the  King  of  Spain,  Philip  II., 
who  conducted  the  war  against  Protestantism.  He 
began  in  his  kingdom  of  Spain ;  the  Inquisition  had 
discovered  in  two  cities,  Valladolid  and  Seville,  nobles 
and  ecclesiastics  who  had  read  the  works  of  the 
reformers ;  Philip  ordered  them  to  be  persecuted,  and 
insisted  on  being  present  in  person  to  witness  their 
punishment. 

Then  he  wanted  to  extirpate  the  heretics  in  his 
provinces  of  the  Low  Countries,  and  he  commanded 
that  all  who  could  be  found  should  be  condemned  to 
death.  Thanks  to  the  proximity  of  Germany,  there 
were  already  some  Protestants  in  the  towns  of  Belgium 
and  Holland,  especially  among  the  bourgeois  and  the 


PHILIP   II.,   ELIZABETH,    HENRY   IV.  327 

artisans,  who  were  working  in  wool.  The  magis- 
trates of  the  towns  and  the  functionaries  of  the  king, 
who  dispensed  justice,  did  not  refuse  to  persecute  the 
heretics,  but  it  seemed  to  them  entirely  too  severe  that 
any  one  should  be  put  to  ddath  for  a  mere  matter  of 
doctrine;  they  were  content  therefore  to  impose  fines 
or  imprisonment.  Philip  insisted,  and  obliged  them 
to  execute  the  heretics.  At  the  same  time  he  displeased 
the  seigniors  of  the  Low  Countries  by  having  strang- 
ers at  the  head  of  the  government  of  the  country, 
Granvelle,  from  Franche-Comte,  and  the  Spaniards. 
It  is  well  known  how  it  ended  in  exciting  the  nobles 
to  revolt  and  how  he  crushed  out  the  rebellion  by  send- 
ing to  the  Low  Countries  the  Duke  of  Alva  with  sev- 
eral regiments  of  that  Spanish  infantry  which  no  one 
up  to  that  time  had  been  able  to  resist. 

Philip  II.  hoped  to  again  become  king  of  England, 
as  he  had  been  some  time  before,  but  his  wife,  Mary 
Tudor,  Queen  of  England,  who  had  died  without  heirs. 
Philip  thought  that  he  could  induce  Elizabeth  to  marry 
him,  and  to  become  a  Catholic.  When  he  was  obliged 
to  give  up  that  idea,  he  tried  to  dethrone  Elizabeth, 
and  to  put  in  her  place  the  Queen  of  Scotland,  Alary 
Stuart.  At  the  same  time  he  offered  to  lend  his  troops 
to  Catherine  de'  Medici,  whose  daughter  he  had  mar- 
ried, for  the  purpose  of  fighting  the  French  Protes- 
tants. He  continued  his  conflict  with  the  Moslems  in 
the  Mediterranean,  along  the  coast  of  Africa,  at  Malta, 
and  as  far  as  Greece ;  it  was  a  Spanish  fleet  which 
won  the  victory  of  Lepanto  (1571)  over  the  Turkish 
fleet. 

During  the  early  part  of  his  reign  he  had  labored 


328  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

especially  to  defend  himself  against  the  revolts  in  the 
Low  Countries  and  against  the  attacks  of  the  Turks. 
From  1575  he  assumed  the  offensive. 

He  conquered  Portugal  (1580),  and  forced  the 
Cortes  of  Aragon  to  give  up  its  privileges;  he  was 
thus  absolute  master  in  the  whole  peninsula. 

The  Low  Countries  had  again  rebelled;  Dutch 
pirates,  surnamed  the  "Beggars  of  the  Sea,"  under  the 
pretext  of  religion,  captured  the  ships  of  Philip's  sub- 
jects, and  had  taken  by  surprise  the  small  town  of  Briel 
(1572).  The  towns  in  the  North  revolted;  the  Span- 
ish army  sent  to  subdue  them  massacred  all  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  towns  which  surrendered;  Haarlem  and 
Leyden  preferred  to  resist  to  the  end.  The  siege  of 
these  cities  in  mid-winter  caused  the  death  of  a  part 
of  the  Spanish  soldiers,  the  others  rebelled,  and  the 
king  was  obliged  to  authorize  the  States  of  the  Low 
Countries  to  levy  troops  in  order  to  fight  its  own  sol- 
diers. 

All  the  provinces  were  then  in  arms,  and  their  repre- 
sentatives formed  a  league  for  self-defence  (1576). 
They  recognized  as  sovereign,  first,  an  archduke  of 
Austria,  then  a  brother  of  the  King  of  France,  and 
finally  relapsed  under  the  dominion  of  Philip  II.  The 
seven  northern  provinces  only,  less  populous  and  less 
wealthy,  remained  independent,  because  Philip  II. 
recalled  his  army  to  attack  Henry  IV.  at  the  very  mo- 
ment when  it  was  on  the  point  of  putting  them  under 
complete  subjection. 

Philip  was  chiefly  occupied  with  France  and  Eng- 
land. In  France  he  had  concluded  a  treaty  with  the 
chief  of  the  League,  Henry  of  Guise,  and  had  furnished 


PHILIP   II.,   ELIZABETH,    HENRY   IV.  329 

him  with  money  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a  revolt 
against  Henry  III.  In  England  he  stirred  up  con- 
spiracies against  Elizabeth,  and  had  bought  the  fav- 
orites of  the  King  of  Scotland.  It  seemed  as  if  he  were 
going  to  become  master  of  the  two  kingdoms.  In  1 588 
he  collected  in  Spain  an  enormous  fleet,  the  "Invincible 
Armada,"  equipped  with  the  flower  of  his  troops ; 
another  army  was  gathered  in  the  Low  Countries. 
These  two  armies  were  to  pass  over  into  England ; 
Elizabeth  had  no  regular  army,  and  could  not  op- 
pose them.  This  expedition,  whose  success  seemed 
assured,  failed  through  the  incapacity  of  the  Spanish 
admiral. 

Soon  after,  the  murder  of  Henry  III.  seemed  to 
deliver  the  kingdom  of  France  into  the  hands  of 
Philip  II.  Henry  IV.  had  been  recognized  only  by  a 
small  part  of  the  French  people.  The  Leaguers  occu- 
pied Paris  and  almost  all  of  the  provinces  in  the  North. 
The  Spanish  army  of  the  Low  Countries  attacked 
Henry  IV.,  forced  him  to  raise  the  siege  of  Paris,  and 
went  into  quarters  in  the  Bastille.  The  Estates  General, 
which  had  been  convoked  at  Paris  by  the  Leaguers, 
held  their  deliberations  under  the  direction  of  the  three 
Spanish  ambassadors ;  they  recognized  the  Infanta 
Isabella,  daughter  of  Philip  II.,  as  Queen  of  France, 
but  they  could  not  decide  to  accept  for  their  king  an 
Austrian  archduke,  whom  Philip  had  chosen  for  the 
husband  of  his  daughter. 

Therefore  Philip  was  foiled  in  his  plans  against 
England  and  against  France,  and  found  himself  at 
war  with  these  two  countries;  the  English  fleet  went 
as  far  as  Cadiz,  burning  the  Spanish  ships  everywhere 


330  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

along  the  route;  the  French  army  subdued  the 
Leaguers. 

Philip,  being  short  of  money,  decided  to  make  peace 
(1598).  He  died,  leaving  the  kingdom  of  Spain  com- 
pletely ruined.  The  provinces,  united,  continued  the 
war,  and  forced  his  successor,  Philip  III.,  to  recognize 
their  independence  (1609). 

However,  the  efforts  of  Philip  II.  had  not  been 
entirely  useless.  If  he  did  not  succeed  in  imposing 
upon  all  Christendom  the  Catholic  religion,  he  at  least 
contributed  to  the  re-establishment  of  it  throughout 
the  greater  part  of  Europe. 

ELIZABETH 

Protestantism  in  England. — The  England  of  the  six- 
teenth century  was  very  different  from  the  England 
of  our  day:  it  had  as  yet  neither  industry  nor  com- 
merce; the  population  was  composed  of  peasants  and 
of  country  gentlemen.  Excepting  London  and  Bristol, 
there  was  no  town  of  more  than  10,000  souls.  From 
the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  king  had  had  abso- 
lute power  over  the  nation  and  the' clergy.  The  reli- 
gion of  England  then  depended  upon  the  decision  of 
the  king.  Therefore  England  changed  religion  with 
every  change  of  sovereign  (four  times  in  the  period 
of  thirty  years). 

Henry  VIII. ,  who  had  studied  theology,  had  decided 
against  the  doctrines  of  Luther ;  he  even  wrote  a  refu- 
tation of  them;  his  prime  minister,  Wolsey,  had  been 
made  a  cardinal,  and  Henry  VIII.  was  for  some  time 
one  of  the  firmest  upholders  of  the  pope.     He  broke 


PHILIP    II.,    ELIZABETH,    HENRY   IV.  331 

with  him  on  account  of  a  private  affair;  he  wanted 
to  get  rid  of  his  wife,  Catherine  of  Aragon,  aunt  of 
Charles  V.,  and  asked  the  pope  to  declare  the  marriage 
void.  The  pope,  being  an  ally  of  Charles  V.,  refused. 
Henry  declared  himself  head  of  the  English  church, 
and  obliged  the  bishops  and  the  English  doctors  to 
take  the  "oath  of  supremacy,"  that  is,  to  swear  that 
they  no  longer  recognized  the  pope  as  the  supreme 
head  of  the  church,  but  only  the  king.  The  clergy 
decided  that  the  marriage  of  the  king  was  void. 

Henry  put  away  Catherine,  and  married  one  of  the 
ladies-in-waiting,  Anne  Boleyn.  However,  he  claimed 
that  he  was  still  a  Catholic,  and  forbade  that  any- 
thing should  be  changed  either  in  the  creed  or  in 
the  former  organization  of  the  church.  He  had  the 
Lutherans  burned  for  being  heretics,  and  had  the 
Catholics  beheaded  because  they  would  not  recognize 
him  as  the  head  of  the  church.  But  having  broken 
away  from  the  pope,  it  became  more  and  more  difficult 
for  him  not  to  turn  to  Protestantism;  the  Catholics 
could  not  obey  him.  his  ministers  were  secretly  Prot- 
estants, and  he  allowed  his  young  son  to  be  brought 
up  in  the  new  doctrines.  He  died,  leaving  three  chil- 
dren :  Edward,  son  of  Jane  Seymour,  his  third  wife ; 
Mary,  daughter  of  his  first  wife,  Catherine ;  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  his  second  wife,  Anne.  All  three  reigned 
successively. 

Edward  VI.,  who  succeeded  his  father,  was  a  Cal- 
vinist.  Being  still  quite  young  he  was  guided  by  his 
relatives ;  the  country  became  Protestant ;  then  a  con- 
fession of  faith  was  drawn  up  for  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, and  all  the  faithful  were  required  to  accept  it ; 


332  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

there  was  also  prepared  a  manual  of  the  liturgy,  which 
all  ecclesiastics  were  to  follow  in  the  celebration  of 
worship,  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  The  confes- 
sion of  faith  and  the  liturgy  were  Calvinist. 

Edward  VI.  died,  leaving  no  children.  To  assure 
the  success  of  Protestantism  he  declared  that  the  heir 
to  the  throne  should  not  be  either  of  his  sisters,  but 
his  cousin,  Jane  Grey,  whom  he  knew  to  be  a  Protes- 
tant. 

The  English  were  too  perfectly  convinced  of  the 
rights  to  the  throne  claimed  by  the  daughters  of  Henry 
VIII.  to  sustain  the  pretensions  of  the  queen,  Jane. 
The  lords  and  soldiers  proclaimed  Mary,  elder  daugh- 
ter of  Henry,  Queen  of  England,  and  the  whole  coun- 
try recognized  her  as  the  rightful  sovereign.  Lady 
Jane  was  beheaded.  Mary,  daughter  of  a  Spaniard, 
had  been  brought  up  a  Catholic,  she  was  wholly 
devoted  to  the  pope,  and  labored  for  the  re-establish- 
ment of  Catholicism  in  England.  She  married  her 
cousin,  Philip  II.,  recalled  the  exiled  priests,  and  re- 
stored the  bishops.  She  induced  Parliament  to  again 
recognize  the  authority  of  the  pope  over  the  English 
Church,  and  to  renew  the  laws  which  condemned  the 
heretics  to  death. 

The  persecution  began  again,  and  thousands  of  here- 
tics were  burned.  Mary  would  have  liked  to  re-estab- 
lish the  Catholic  Church,  such  as  it  was  before  the  reign 
of  Henry  VIII. ;  she  demanded  that  all  the  domains 
taken  from  the  monks  by  Henry  VIII.  should  be 
restored  to  them ;  the  English  nobles  who  had  become 
owners  of  these  domains  began  to  protest.  However, 
no  one  dared  oppose  the  queen,  and  England  was  about 


PHILIP    II.,    ELIZABETH,    HENRY   IV.  333 

to  become  Catholic  once  more,  when  Mary  died,  leav- 
ing no  heirs  ( 1558). 

The  Reign  of  Elizabeth. — There  remained  but  one 
single  person  of  the  royal  family,  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  Henry  VIII.  and  of  Anne  Boleyn.  Since  the  death 
of  her  mother  she  had  lived  quite  abandoned  by  her 
sister.  Mary  had  refused  to  put  her  to  death,  and  was 
preparing  to  make  a  declaration  that  Elizabeth  was 
incapable  of  ever  being  entrusted  with  the  crown. 
The  Catholics  said  that  she  had  no  right  to  the  throne, 
because  the  marriage  of  Henry  VIII.  with  her  mother 
was  not  valid.  However,  the  Catholic  king,  Philip  II., 
aided  in  having  her  proclaimed  Queen  of  England ;  he 
hoped  to  marry  her,  as  he  had  married  Mary,  and  for 
several  years  he  continued  to  demand  her  hand  without 
her  daring  absolutely  to  refuse  it. 

Elizabeth  did  not  like  the  Calvinist  religion.  She 
much  preferred  the  ceremonies  of  the  Catholic  wor- 
ship and  the  government  of  the  church  by  the  bishops, 
which  was  rejected  by  the  Calvinists.  But  she  could 
not  count  upon  the  Catholic  party  for  support,  they 
did  not  regard  her  as  the  legitimate  heir,  and  preferred 
the  Queen  of  Scotland,  Mary  Stuart,  the  next  heir  to 
the  throne  after  Elizabeth. 

On  the  contrary  the  Protestant  party  was  devoted 
to  her,  for  she  alone  could  prevent  England  from 
passing  under  the  dominion  of  Mary  Stuart  and  of  the 
Catholics.  Elizabeth  then  decided,  although  against 
her  will,  to  take  sides  with  the  Protestant  party.  But 
she  did  not  want  to  accept  Calvinism,  and  therefore 
organized  a  special  form  of  Protestantism  for  England. 

The  Anglican  Church  was  a  compromise  between 


334  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

Catholicism  and  Calvinism.  The  Confession  of  Faith 
as  set  forth  in  the  "39  Articles,"  and  declared  obli- 
gatory on  all  the  English  people,  is  a  summary  of  the 
Calvinistic  doctrines.  The  Church  of  England  rejects 
the  authority  of  the  pope,  condemns  the  mass  and 
celebrates  worship  in  English,  not  in  Latin.  But  it 
preserves  the  ceremonies  of  the  Catholic  worship,  the 
chants,  the  altar,  the  surplice  and  the  Catholic  organi- 
zation of  the  church.  The  religious  power  rests  with 
the  bishops,  named  by  the  government. 

In  reality  the  king  is  the  head  of  the  church.  Eliza- 
beth had  hoped  that  the  Catholics  and  the  Calvinists 
would  accept  the  idea  of  the  Anglican  Church,  and  that 
all  the  English  would  have  the  same  religion.  She 
only  succeeded  in  creating  a  third  religion  by  the  side 
of  the  two  others ;  there  were  henceforth  three  parties 
in  England :  the  Catholic,  the  Calvinist  or  Presbyterian 
and  the  Anglican.  As  the  Anglican  religion  was  obli- 
gatory, the  government  persecuted  both  Calvinists  and 
Catholics.  The  contest  was  especially  bitter  with  the 
much  more  formidable  Catholic  party,  for  Elizabeth 
had  refused  to  marry,  and  her  death  was  all  sufficient 
to  bring  into  power  Mary  Stuart  and  the  Catholics. 

This  was  the  reason  why  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  was 
chiefly  occupied  with  a  contest  between  the  two  queens. 
Mary  Stuart  had  on  her  side  the  English  Catholics 
and  the  King  of  Spain ;  they  tried  to  get  rid  of  Eliza- 
beth by  assassination.  Elizabeth  and  the  Protestants 
sought  to  be  freed  from  Mary  Stuart  by  exciting  the 
Scotch  nobles  to  revolt ;  when  Alary  came  and  sought 
refuge  in  England  they  had  her  imprisoned,  and  after 
a   long  captivity  she   was  condemned  and  executed. 


PHILIP   II.,    ELIZABETH,    HENRY   IV.  335 

Her  son  James,  the  heir  to  the  crowns  of  Scotland  and 
England,  after  having  tried  to  gain  the  support  of  the 
Catholics,  decided  to  accept  Protestantism.  When 
Elizabeth  died  (1603)  the  Anglican  Church  was  the 
established  church. 

The  reign  of  Elizabeth  was  a  time  of  prosperity  for 
England.  Notwithstanding  the  persecutions  and  the 
plots,  the  country  lived  very  nearly  at  peace  with  the 
rest  of  the  world,  while  France,  the  Low  Countries  and 
Spain  were  ruined  by  war.  The  disasters  in  the  neigh- 
boring countries  enriched  England,  the  weavers  and 
the  Protestant  merchants  from  Belgium,  persecuted  by 
Philip  II.,  came  and  settled  in  the  English  towns,  bring- 
ing with  them  the  art  of  manufacturing  cloth,  linen 
and  lace.  The  Protestant  sailors  of  England,  enemies 
of  the  King  of  Spain,  began  to  pillage  the  Spanish  and 
Portuguese  ships,  and  grew  rich  in  carrying  on  the 
business  of  corsairs.  The  queen,  through  expediency, 
issued  proclamations  forbidding  these  acts  of  piracy, 
but  she  herself  furnished  money  to  the  corsairs,  and 
shared  the  profits  with   them. 

London  became  a  great  city  of  300,000  inhabitants. 
The  merchants  united  for  the  purpose  of  forming  com- 
mercial companies.  The  English  had  up  to  that  time 
been  only  a  nation  of  peasants;  they  began  to  form  a 
class  of  industrials,  of  merchants  and  of  sailors.  And 
it  was  this  class  which  defended  England  from  the 
attacks  of  Philip  II.  and  which  has  maintained  the 
Protestant  religion. 

With  her  sailors  and  the  revenues  from  the  imposts, 
Elizabeth  was  able  to  play  the  role  of  a  powerful 
sovereign;  she  was  able  to  be  the  head  of  the  Protes- 


336  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

tant  party  in  Europe,  to  save  the  Calvinists  in  Holland, 
Scotland  and  France.  England  tinder  her  reign  be- 
came the  great  Protestant  power  against  which  the 
power  of  Spain  was  shattered. 

HENRY    IV. 

The  Calvinist  Party  in  France — The  Protestant  doc- 
trines penetrated  slowly  through  France ;  during  the 
whole  reign  of  Francis  I.  there  were  only  isolated 
bodies  of  Lutherans  and  Anabaptists  in  a  few  towns, 
more  especially  among  the  artisan  classes.  It  was  only 
during  the  war  between  Henry  II.  and  Spain  (begin- 
ning in  the  year  1555)  that  the  Protestants  became 
numerous,  and  they  were  chiefly  Calvinists.  At  the 
time  of  the  dispersion  of  the  Council  of  Trent  the  pope, 
at  war  with  the  Catholic  King  of  Spain,  began  to 
despair  of  ever  seeing  the  establishment  of  order  in 
the  church  and  the  reformation  of  the  abuses  that  were 
so  disastrous  to  the  church.  A  party  of  educated  men 
decided  to  break  away  from  the  church  and  to  openly 
adopt  Calvinism.  From  1555  they  were  sufficiently 
numerous  to  hold  religious  assemblies  in  Paris;  in 
1 559  there  were  about  250  communities  in  France, 
and  the  pastors  and  elders  were  called  together  in 
order  to  draw  up  a  confession  of  faith. 

This  growing  church  was  almost  crushed  out  by  the 
king.  Henry  II.  had  made  peace  with  Spain  expressly 
for  the  purpose  of  stopping  the  progress  of  heresy;  he 
was  beginning  to  exterminate  the  Protestants  when  he 
perished  by  an  accident  in  a  tournament.  His  son, 
Francis  II.,  too  young  and  too  feeble  to  govern,  left 


PHILIP    II.,    ELIZABETH,    HENRY   IV.  337 

the  power  in  the  hands  of  the  Duke  and  Cardinal  de 
Guise,  who  were  uncles  of  his  wife,  Mary  Stuart.  The 
Protestants,  who  would  not  have  dared  to  resist  the 
king  in  person,  showed  no  scruples  in  opposing  his 
uncles.  At  that  time  many  malcontents  were  found 
among  the  nobles  and  among  the  soldiers,  who  were 
disbanded  after  the  war;  they  joined  the  Calvinists. 
Thus  was  formed  the  Protestant  party.  It  was  com- 
posed chiefly  of  nobles,  and  had  at  its  head  a  prince 
of  the  blood,  Conde,  and  many  great  lords. 

Religious  Wars. — The  Guises,  following  the  policy 
of  Henry  II.,  again  began  to  persecute  the  Calvinists; 
they  arrested  their  chief,  the  Prince  de  Conde,  and  had 
him  condemned  to  death.  The  Protestant  party  was 
on  the  point  of  being  destroyed  when  Francis  II.  died. 
Calvin  looked  upon  this  death  as  an  act  of  Providence. 
The  Protestant  party  was  saved. 

Charles  IX.  was  under  age;  his  mother  Catherine  de' 
Medici  governed  the  state.  She  was  the  enemy  of 
the  Guises,  and  at  first  favored  the  Calvinists,  whom 
she  hoped  to  make  use  of  in  her  schemes.  She  had  no 
more  religion  than  had  Elizabeth  of  England,  but  her 
position  was  different ;  she  had  no  interest  in  becom- 
ing a  Protestant,  for  the  great  majority  of  the  French 
were  determined  Catholics. 

The  Council  of  Trent  in  arranging  for  a  reform  in 
the  church  (1562)  had  pleased  the  larger  number  of 
the  disaffected.  The  progress  of  Calvinism  was 
stopped  at  once ;  and  the  Protestants  remained  in  a 
small  minority.  They  were  chiefly  gentlemen  and 
seigniors.  The  peasants,  the  bourgeois  (save  in  a  few- 
southern  towns),  the  clergy,  the  magistrates,  the  court, 


338  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

remained  Catholics.  However,  the  Protestant  party, 
composed  of  nobles  accustomed  to  war,  was  too  power- 
ful to  be  reduced  otherwise  than  by  force,  and  the 
government  had  neither  money  nor  army.  Catherine, 
by  the  advice  of  the  Chancellor  L'Hopital  tried,  while 
remaining  a  Catholic,  to  establish  toleration  for  the 
Protestants.  Edicts  issued  in  the  name  of  the  king 
authorized  the  Protestant  gentlemen  to  celebrate  their 
worship  in  their  own  houses,  and  for  the  Protestants 
who  were  non-noble  permission  was  granted  to  build 
temples  in  certain  towns. 

But  this  system  of  toleration  was  opposed  to  the 
customs  of  the  time ;  the  Catholics  were  not  willing  to 
see  a  worship  publicly  celebrated,  which  they  regarded 
as  pure  sacrilege,  the  Protestants  were  not  willing  to 
remain  the  tolerated  minority,  and  believed  it  to  be 
their  duty  to  destroy  Catholicism,  which  they  regarded 
as  a  system  of  idolatry. 

The  government  could  not  prevent  a  conflict  between 
the  partisans  of  the  two  religions.  For  more  than 
thirty  years  ( 1562- 1598)  to  be  at  war  was  the  habitual 
condition  of  France.  As  the  king  was  on  the  side  of 
the  Catholics,  the  war  took  the  form  of  a  revolt  of 
the  Protestants  against  the  king. 

The  Catholic  party  was  the  stronger ;  but  for  a  long 
time  it  was  imperfectly  organized ;  the  strength  of  the 
armies  at  that  time  was  chiefly  in  the  cavalry  composed 
of  the  gentry,  and  the  majority  belonged  to  the  Protes- 
tant party.  But  these  horsemen  were  too  undisciplined 
to  make  a  genuine  army.  When  the  war  was  pro- 
longed the  two  parties  were  obliged  to  take  into  their 
service  foreign  soldiery ;  the  king  sent  for  Swiss  pike- 


PHILIP   II.,    ELIZABETH,    HENRY   IV.  339 

men  and  for  Spanish  foot  soldiers;  the  Protestants 
called  to  their  aid  cavalry  from  Germany  and  from 
England.  France  became  the  battle-field  of  the  two 
religions. 

The  Protestants  were  conquered,  and  pushed  back 
into  the  South.  But  the  court  was  not  resolved  upon 
their  extermination,  and  preferred  to  grant  them 
peace ;  this  grant  took  the  form  of  a  royal  edict  which 
authorized  the  Protestants  to  practise  their  religion. 
In  1572  Catherine  de'  Medici  tried  to  get  rid  of  the 
Protestant  party  by  a  massacre  (Saint  Bartholomew)  ; 
she  did  not  succeed.  Then  was  formed  a  party  for  the 
purpose  of  imposing  peace  and  toleration ;  this  was  the 
party  of  the  politicians. 

The  League. — Henry  III.  followed  the  system 
employed  by  his  mother ;  although  he  had  approved  of 
Saint  Bartholomew  and  had  fought  the  Protestants, 
he  tried  to  institute  toleration  in  order  to  put  an  end 
to  the  wars,  which  were  weakening  the  authority  of 
the  king.  Therefore  he  granted  by  an  edict  which  had 
been  demanded  by  the  Protestant  and  political  parties, 
liberty  of  worship  to  the  Calvinist  faith ;  but  as  the 
promise  of  the  king  had  been  violated  so  many  times 
the  chiefs  of  the  Protestant  party  demanded  a  guaran- 
tee; Henry  III.  provided  them  with  places  of  refuge; 
these  were  fortified  places  or  towns,  where  the  chiefs 
of  the  party  had  the  right  to  support  a  garrison,  so  as 
to  be  sure  of  finding  refuge  there  in  case  the  king 
should  again  begin  the  persecution  of  the  Calvinists. 

The  ardent  Catholics,  seeing  that  they  could  no 
longer  count  upon  the  king,  formed  an  association 
with  a  view  to  the  destruction  of  heresy;  this  was  the 


340  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

League.  It  was  started  in  Picardy  (1576),  but  it  had 
its  centre  in  Paris.  There  were  henceforth  three 
parties :  Protestants,  Leaguers  and  Royalists. 

The  Leaguers  were  soon  masters  of  all  the  towns  in 
the  North  and  East  of  France;  their  chief  was  Henry 
of  Guise;  they  put  themselves  under  the  protection  of 
the  Catholic  sovereigns,  the  King  of  Spain  and  the 
pope,  who  sent  them  money  and  troops. 

The  Protestants  were  driven  back  to  the  southwest ; 
their  centre  was  at  la  Rochelle ;  and  they  had  for  their 
chief  a  prince  of  the  blood,  Henry  of  Bourbon,  King 
of  Navarre.  Henry  was  not  a  very  good  Protestant ; 
he  had  been  a  Catholic  for  two  years,  then  for  three 
months  he  remained  without  any  religion,  and  even 
when  he  had  become  a  Calvinist  again  it  happened  that 
one  day,  when  he  was  eating  some  cherries  during  the 
sermon,  he  threw  the  stones  at  the  head  of  the  pastor ; 
he  led  the  kind  of  life  that  was  not  at  all  pleasing  to 
the  faithful.  The  Protestants  had  for  their  allies  the 
Queen  of  England  and  several  German  princes.  Be- 
tween these  two  parties  Henry  III.  sought  to  main- 
tain the  Royalist  party,  which  continually  grew  more 
feeble. 

A  time  came  when  the  Leaguers  were  strong  enough 
to  constrain  the  king  to  join  with  them  against  the 
Protestants.  Henry  III.  had  no  children ;  his  brother, 
the  Duke  of  Anjou,  who  was  to  have  been  his  suc- 
cessor, died  in  1585;  his  nearest  relative  proved  to 
be  the  chief  of  the  Protestant  party,  Henry  of  Navarre. 
The  Catholics  did  not  want  to  accept  for  their  king  one 
who  had  relapsed  into  heresy,  whom  the  pope  had  just 
excommunicated;  the  Leaguers  tried  to  force  from 


PHILIP    II.,    ELIZABETH,    HENRY   IV.  341 

Henry  III.  the  declaration  that  Henry  of  Navarre  had 
forfeited  his  right  to  the  throne.  The  Protestant  party 
seemed  ruined;  the  chiefs  of  the  League  took  it  upon 
themselves  to  seize  the  king,  while  Philip  II.  was  send- 
ing his  Armada  against  the  Protestants  in  England. 

Then  came  the  Day  of  the  Barricades  (May  9, 
1588).  But  Henry  III.  succeeded  in  escaping  from 
Paris,  and  after  the  defeat  of  the  Armada,  he  thought 
he  could  destroy  the  League  by  arranging  the  assas- 
sination of  the  chief,  Henry  of  Guise.  The  Leaguers 
then  openly  revolted  against  the  king,  who  had  no 
other  resource  than  to  accept  an  alliance  with  Henry 
of  Navarre  and  with  his  Protestant  army.  The  Royal- 
ists and  the  Protestants,  who  had  just  been  fighting 
each  other,  united  against  the  Leaguers ;  together  they 
were  besieging  Paris,  when  Henry  III.  was  assas- 
sinated (1589). 

Accession  of  Henry  IV — Henry  of  Navarre  became 
King  of  France  under  the  name  of  Henry  IV.  But 
almost  all  of  the  Royalists  abandoned  him,  and  he 
found  himself  isolated  with  his  small  army  in  the  midst 
of  a  country  under  the  dominion  of  the  Leaguers,  who 
refused  to  recognize  him  as  the  king.  He  had  the 
energy  to  sustain  himself  during  a  period  of  four 
years  (1589- 1593)  in  the  North  of  France,  in  spite 
of  the  Leaguers  of  the  Spanish  army,  which  Philip  II. 
had  sent  against  him,  feeling  indeed  that  should  he 
withdraw  toward  the  South  he  would  cease  to  be  King 
of  France.  His  army  was  composed  of  French  Protes- 
tants, a  few  Royalists  and  some  troops  which  his  allies, 
the  German  princes  and  the  Queen  of  England,  had 
sent  to  him. 


342  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

His  adversaries  could  not  agree  upon  the  choice  of 
a  king  to  oppose  him.  The  Leaguers  wanted  the  young 
Duke  of  Guise,  son  of  Henry;  Philip  II.  claimed  the 
crown  for  his  daughter,  the  Infanta  Isabella,  grand- 
daughter of  Henry  II.,  but  through  the  female  line, 
which  was  to  renounce  the  salic  law.  The  Leaguers 
at  first  hoped  that  Philip  II.  would  give  his  daughter  in 
marriage  to  the  Duke  of  Guise,  but  in  the  Estates  of 
1 593  his  ambassadors,  being  urged  to  explain,  declared 
that  an  Austrian  archduke  was  to  be  the  husband  of 
the  Infanta.  Almost  all  of  the  Leaguers  were  un- 
willing to  be  governed  by  foreigners;  the  Spaniards, 
who  were  garrisoned  in  Paris,  had  made  themselves 
hated  on  account  of  their  insolence.  The  national 
sentiment  was  pronounced  in  favor  of  Henry  IV.,  a 
French  prince  and  a  legitimate  heir  to  the  throne ;  his 
religion  was  the  sole  obstacle;  he  removed  that  by  an 
abjuration.  From  that  time  there  was  no  longer  a 
place  in  France  for  a  Catholic  party;  the  League  was 
nothing  but  a  faction  hopeless  of  success ;  the  chiefs 
of  the  League,  one  by  one,  submitted,  or  rather  con- 
sented, for  a  money  consideration,  to  recognize  the 
king.  Henry  IV.  with  his  little  army  would  have 
had  great  difficulty  in  taking  from  them  the  great 
cities,  which  they  occupied,  and  he  preferred  to  pur- 
chase them.  He  could  then  fight  the  Spaniards  and 
drive  them  from  Picardy. 

Edict  of  Nantes. — In  becoming  a  Catholic,  Henry 
IV.  had  ceased  to  be  the  head  of  the  Protestant  party. 
The  Calvinists,  much  dissatisfied,  withdrew  into  the 
South ;  they  no  longer  had  a  chief,  but  they  still  had 
an  army  and  the  control  of  some  fortified  cities;  the 


PHILIP   II.,   ELIZABETH,   HENRY   IV.  343 

assembly  of  their  deputies  sat  permanently.  Henry 
IV.  ordered  a  dissolution,  the  assembly  refused. 
Henry  sent  commissioners  to  them  in  order  to  agree 
on  conditions  of  peace ;  finally  peace  was  concluded 
under  the  form  of  an  edict  published  at  Nantes  ( 1598). 

The  Protestants  obtained  a  complete  liberty  of  con- 
science, that  is  to  say,  the  right  to  profess  their  religion 
anywhere  in  France  without  danger  of  being  perse- 
cuted. 

They  obtained  the  right  to  practise  their  worship 
in  all  places  where  they  ruled,  and  in  all  the  rest  of 
France  they  could  have  two  temples  in  each  bailiwick. 

They  had  the  right  to  build  their  temples,  to  support 
schools,  to  choose  schoolmasters,  to  hold  religious 
assemblies  (synods),  to  levy  contributions  on  their  co- 
religionists in  order  to  provide  for  the  expenses  of 
their  worship. 

The  king  declared  that  he  would  make  no  difference 
between  them  and  the  Catholics,  that  they  could  fill 
any  situation  (in  fact,  some  of  his  ministers  were 
Calvinists). 

In  order  to  prevent  them  from  being  unjustly  con- 
demned the  king  created  in  the  three  parlements  in 
the  South  chambers  where  one  half  of  the  judges  were 
Calvinists.  These  chambers  were  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  adjudicating  the  affairs  of  the  Protestants ;  at 
Paris  there  was  a  chamber  of  the  Edict,  where  some 
Calvinists  had  to  have  a  seat. 

As  a  guarantee  of  his  promises  the  king  allowed 
the  Protestants  to  keep  their  fortified  places  (about 
200)  for  eight  years.  This  term  was  several  times 
extended. 


344  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

The  Edict  of  Nantes  ended  the  religious  wars  in 
France.  No  one  of  the  two  parties  had  been  able  to 
crush  the  other.  The  advantage  remained  with  the 
Catholics;  their  religion  was  the  religion  of  the  king 
and  of  the  kingdom ;  but  they  decided  upon  toleration 
for  the  Protestants,  they  accorded  to  them  guaran- 
tees which  no  other  religious  minority  in  Europe  had 
been  able  to  obtain. 


CHAPTER   XXIII 
ABSOLUTE   MONARCHY 

RISE    OF   ABSOLUTE    MONARCHY 

Change  in  the  Manners  of  the  Kings. — From  the  six- 
teenth century  the  kings  of  France  acted  as  if  they 
were  absolute  sovereigns;  they  pretended  to  gov- 
ern alone  without  the  aid  of  the  people,  and  would 
not  endure  remonstrance  any  more  than  they  would 
resistance  to  their  power.  Their  policy  was  already 
that  of  a  master,  even  in  regard  to  the  nobles,  and  yet 
their  manner  of  living  continued  to  be  that  of  the 
other  great  seigniors. 

In  France  the  king  was  only  the  "first  gentleman  of 
his  realm."  He  continued  to  lead  the  wandering  and 
adventurous  life  of  the  kings  of  the  Middle  Ages; 
he  himself  went  to  war;  sometimes  like  Francis  I.  and 
Henry  IV.,  lie  led  the  charge  at  the  head  of  his  cavalry. 
He  had  no  palace,  but  only  chateaux :  Fontainebleau, 
Amboise,  Blois,  the  Louvre;  he  went  frequently  with 
an  escort  from  one  to  the  other.  He  lived  familiarly 
in  the  midst  of  his  friends  and  his  family ;  Henry  IV. 
played  with  his  children,  an  ambassador  found  him  one 
day  on  all  fours  carrying  one  of  his  sons  on  his  back. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  the  manners  of  the  princes 
changed  entirely.  They  had  a  fixed  residence,  built 
for   themselves  a   palace,   ceased   going   to   war   and 

345 


346  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

adopted  a  ceremonial  which  kept  their  subjects  at  a 
distance. 

Louis  XIIL  and  Richelieu — The  royal  authority  had 
been  very  much  weakened  by  the  religious  wars;  the 
great  lords  especially  had  lost  the  habit  of  obedience 
to  the  king.  It  was  necessary  to  reconstitute  absolute 
power.  Henry  IV.  began  the  work,  and  Richelieu 
completed  it  in  the  name  of  Louis  XIIL  The  royal 
authority  was  not  disputed,  all  the  French  recognized 
the  right  of  the  king  to  govern  as  a  master.  But  the 
great  lords  and  the  princes  of  royal  blood,  if  they 
accepted  conditions  and  submitted  to  the  orders  given 
by  the  king  in  person,  refused  to  obey  his  officials, 
and  pretended  that  by  virtue  of  their  birth  they  had 
the  right  to  form  a  government  council.  The  Prince 
of  Conde,  aided  by  his  friends,  had  made  war  on  the 
regent  during  the  minority  of  Louis  XIIL,  and  had 
forced  her  to  admit  him  to  the  Council. 

The  seigniors  were  dangerous  because  of  the  armed 
gentry  which  they  maintained  in  their  dwellings  and 
in  the  fortified  chateaux,  where  they  could  sustain  a 
siege,  also  because  of  the  governorships,  which  the 
king  had  conferred  upon  them.  Richelieu  ordered 
the  destruction  of  all  the  fortified  chateaux  (1626), 
and  sent  his  engineers  with  the  power  to  blow  them  up. 
He  labored  to  diminish  the  power  of  the  governors, 
sending  out  intendants  to  hold  them  in  surveillance. 
The  nobles  conspired  together  to  rid  themselves  of 
this  importunate  minister. 

Richelieu  employed  spies  in  order  to  obtain  informa- 
tion of  their  plots.  He  had  the  seigniors  who  con- 
spired against  him  arrested  and  brought  to  judgment, 


ABSOLUTE   MONARCHY  347 

as  if  they  had  conspired  against  the  king  himself. 
Sometimes  he  allowed  them  to  be  judged  by  the  or- 
dinary tribunals ;  but  when  he  feared  lest  Parlement 
would  not  condemn  them  to  death  he  made  up  a  special 
tribunal,  picking  out  the  judges  to  suit  himself. 

For  the  trial  of  Marshal  de  Marillac  he  was  not 
satisfied  with  the  Parlement  of  Paris,  and  he  formed 
a  commission  by  taking  some  docile  judges  from  the 
Parlement  of  Dijon,  and  for  more  security  he  com- 
pelled them  to  hold  their  sittings  in  his  own  house 
at  Rueil.  Marillac  was  accused  of  embezzling  money. 
"In  all  of  which  I  am  guilty,"  said  he;  "there  cannot 
be  found  enough  for  which  to  chastise  a  page."  But 
he  was  an  enemy  of  Richelieu,  he  was  condemned  to 
death.  It  was  a  commission  drawn  from  the  Parle- 
ment of  Grenoble  which  condemned  to  death  Cinq- 
Mars  and  de  Thou. 

Richelieu  found  himself  in  a  precarious  situation; 
he  enjoyed  absolute  power,  so  perfectly  did  he  have 
the  confidence  of  the  king;  but  a  caprice  of  the  mon- 
arch could  suddenly  take  from  him  this  power  and 
place  him  at  the  mercy  of  his  enemies. 

That  is  what  he  saw  in  1630  at  the  time  of  the 
famous  "Day  of  Dupes."  Louis  XIII.,  during  an  ill- 
ness, had  finally  yielded  to  the  wearisome  demands  of 
his  mother,  and  had  promised  her  that  he  would  send 
Richelieu  away,  but  only  after  the  end  of  the  war.  One 
day  Maria  de'  Medici,  eager  to  get  rid  of  the  cardinal, 
shut  herself  up  with  the  king,  and  wanted  to  persuade 
him  to  give  at  once  the  order  of  dismissal.  The  car- 
dinal entered ;  at  sight  of  him  the  queen  grew  angry, 
and  demanded  of  the  king  "whether  he  preferred  a 


348  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

servant  to  his  mother."  Louis  XIIL,  without  answer- 
ing, fled,  and  went  off  hunting  to  Versailles,  taking 
with  him  Michel  de  Marillac.  The  court  concluded 
from  that  movement,  that  the  king  had  resolved  to 
dismiss  the  cardinal;  immediately  all  the  courtiers 
crowded  to  the  palace  of  the  Luxembourg,  in  order 
to  pay  court  to  Maria  de'  Medici,  who  had  sent  couriers 
in  all  directions  to  announce  the  "good  news."  -Dur- 
ing this  time  Richelieu  was  arranging  his  establish- 
ment in  order  to  flee  to  Havre  and  to  leave  France. 
But  in  the  evening  the  king  ordered  him  to  come  to 
Versailles,  and  retired  with  him  into  his  cabinet.  Im- 
mediately the  courtiers  left  the  queen  mother,  and 
returned  to  the  home  of  the  cardinal. 

Little  by  little,  however,  France  grew  accustomed 
to  the  respect  of  royal  authority  even  in  the  person  of 
the  officials,  and  the  minister  of  the  king  was  obeyed 
as  if  he  were  the  king  himself.  Mazarin,  who  gov- 
erned France  for  twenty  years,  was  but  an  obscure 
Italian  adventurer,  who  had  come  to  France  only  four 
years  before  his  elevation  to  the  office  of  minister. 
Richelieu  had  caused  his  appointment  as  cardinal; 
and  he  ruled  the  kingdom  as  if  he  were  master,  because 
it  pleased  the  regent  to  confide  everything  to  him.  In 
1648  an  insurrection  broke  out,  which  obliged  the 
regent  to  send  away  the  foreigner.  But  the  Fronde 
proved  that  the  Parlement  of  Paris,  the  princes  and 
the  Parisian  people  were  not  as  strong  as  the  king's 
minister.    Absolute  monarchy  was  fully  established. 


ABSOLUTE   MONARCHY  349 


ABSOLUTE    MONARCHY    IN    FRANCE 

Theory  of  Divine  Right. — Until  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury authority  had  been  founded  upon  hardly  anything 
more  than  upon  custom  and  religion.  It  was  said  that 
the  inhabitants  of  a  kingdom  ought  to  respect  the 
king,  and  obey  him,  because  his  power  came  from 
God,  which  was  the  meaning  of  the  formula,  "by 
the  grace  of  God,"  which  all  the  Christian  princes 
added  to  their  title.  Under  Louis  XIV.  the  formula- 
tion of  the  theory  of  the  divine  right  of  kings  was  com- 
pleted. It  is  set  forth  in  the  "Art  of  ruling  a  State, 
drawn  from  the  Holy  Scriptures,"  which  Bossuet,  pre- 
ceptor of  the  dauphin,  wrote  in  order  to  make  the 
future  king  acquainted  with  his  rights  and  his  duties. 
"God,"  said  Bossuet,  "is  the  true  king.  But  He  estab- 
lishes kings  to  be  his  ministers,  and  through  them 
reigns  over  all  peoples.  Royal  authority  emanates 
from  God ;  therefore  the  person  of  the  king  is  sacred." 
Doubtless  the  princes  have  many  duties ;  the  power 
which  they  have  from  God  should  only  be  employed 
for  the  good  of  the  public,  "for  the  prince  is  born  for 
the  public";  they  should  make  themselves  loved,  know 
the  laws,  study  affairs  and  even  expose  their  lives 
for  the  safety  of  their  people.  But  all  these  duties  do 
not  bind  them  to  their  subjects.  "Royal  authority  is 
absolute."  The  prince  is  not  obliged  to  give  an  ac- 
count to  any  one  for  any  of  his  commands.  Not  that 
the  king  always  decides  justly,  but  he  is  supposed  to 
do  so.  Therefore  princes  must  be  obeyed  as  if  they 
were  justice  itself.     He  who  will  not  obey  the  prince 


350  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

is  not  sent  away  to  another  tribunal,  but  is  irremissibly 
condemned  to  death  as  an  enemy  to  public  security 
and  to  human  society.  "One  should  always  respect 
the  princes,  always  serve  them,  whatever  they  may 
be,  good  or  bad,  for  there  is  an  inherent  holiness  in 
the  royal  character,  and  the  prince  does  not  lose 
through  his  crimes  the  quality  of  a  seignior." 

In  principle  this  system  is  very  different  from 
tyranny.  "The  absolute  government  is  not  an  arbi- 
trary government,"  for  the  king  has  the  duty  of  gov- 
erning according  to  the  laws.  But  should  it  please 
him  to  follow  his  caprices  only,  "there  is  no  power 
capable  of  controlling  him" ;  princes  are  gods,  they 
"share  in  the  divine  independence."  The  result  is  that 
the  king  has  duties,  but  his  subjects  have  no  rights, 
consequently  no  means  of  recalling  to  him  his  duties, 
and  of  obliging  him  to  fulfill  them.  The  subjects  owe 
perfect  obedience  to  the  prince.  To  the  violence  of  the 
princes  they  can  only  oppose  respectful  remonstrances, 
without  mutiny,  and  without  a  murmur,  and  should 
offer  prayers  for  their  conversion.  "So  the  king  ought 
not  to  be  a  tyrant,  but  he  can  be  one  in  perfect  secur- 
ity." There  is  no  co-active  force  against  the  prince. 
His  power  must  be  such  that  no  one  can  hope  to 
escape  from  it.  The  people  must  fear  the  prince,  but 
the  prince  must  fear  only  to  do  evil. 

Louis  XIV.  formulated  a  similar  theory  in  his  in- 
structions to  his  grandson :  "You  must  be  convinced 
that  the  kings  are  absolute  lords,  and  have  naturally 
the  full  and  entire  disposal  of  all  that  they  possess,  as 
well  through  the  church  as  through  the  secular  powers. 
By  the  same  right  all  that  is  found  in  the  extent  of 


ABSOLUTE   MONARCHY  351 

our  states  belongs  to  us."  He  does  not  admit  that  the 
nation  has  any  rights.  "The  subjection,  which  puts 
the  sovereign  under  the  necessity  of  adopting  the  law 
of  his  people,  is  the  greatest  calamity  that  can  fall  on 
a  man  of  our  rank."  It  is  doubtful  whether  Louis 
XIV.  ever  uttered  that  famous:  "L'Etat  c'est  moi" 
(I  am  the  State)  ;  but  he  expressed  the  thought  which 
is  contained  in  it :  "The  king,"  said  he,  "represents  the 
entire  nation ;  the  nation  is  not  embodied,  it  exists  en- 
tirely in  the  king."  It  is  the  same  lesson  that  the  tutor 
of  the  young  Louis  XV.  gave  to  his  pupil,  when  the 
multitude  gathered  under  his  windows,  he  said :  "Sire 
all  these  people  are  yours." 

The  Court — Louis  XIV.  was  the  first  King  of 
France  who  had  a  fixed  place  of  residence.  He  did 
not  like  Paris,  which  reminded  him  of  the  disturbances 
of  the  Fronde.  He  chose  a  site  at  Versailles,  several 
leagues  from  Paris,  and  where  there  was  only  a  small 
hunting  lodge.  It  was  then  a  sterile  plateau,  without 
trees,  and  without  water;  the  king,  at  a  great  outlay, 
built  an  immense  palace  in  the  style  of  the  Italian 
palaces,  planted  a  park  and  brought  in  water.  The 
palace  of  Versailles  was  from  that  time  down  to  1789 
the  official  dwelling  of  the  King  of  France.  About 
him  was  lodged  an  army  of  servitors,  which  was 
called  the  household  of  the  king.  This  household  was 
composed  of  domestics  organized  in  distinct  service 
under  the  orders  of  high  stewards.  There  were  three 
great  dignitaries.  The  grand  almoner  had  under  him 
all  the  almoners,  chaplains  and  musicians.  The  grand 
master  of  France  had  charge  of  "seven  offices" :  all 
the  stewards,  the  chief  pantler,  the  chief  cup-bearer, 


352  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

the  chief  carver  and  all  the  services  connected  with  the 
supplies  of  the  table ;  the  officers  of  the  kings  buttery, 
the  royal  cooks,  the  common  pantry,  the  common 
wine  cellars,  the  common  kitchen,1  the  fruit-room,  and 
the  wood-house,  where  fuel  was  stored.  The  grand 
chamberlain  had  charge  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  bed- 
chamber, pages,  ushers,  valets,  footmen,  cloak-bearers, 
gun-bearers,  barbers,  upholsterers,  clockmakers,  wait- 
ers, doctors,  officers  of  the  wardrobe,  the  closet  and  the 
storeroom.  The  king  had  also  a  military  household, 
which  was  quite  an  army:  the  life-guards,  the  royal 
body-guard,  the  provost  guards,  Swiss  guards,  gen- 
darmes, the  light  cavalry,  musketeers,  the  regiment  of 
French  guards  and  the  regiment  of  Swiss  guards. 
Under  the  grand  equerry  of  France  was  the  whole 
personnel  of  the  stables,  squires,  pages,  lackeys,  super- 
intendents of  the  stables ;  under  the  grand  master  of  the 
hounds  and  the  grand  falconer  were  all  the  depart- 
ments of  the  chase,  the  packs  of  dogs  for  hunting  hare, 
or  for  deer,  two  casts  of  falcons  for  the  kite,  casts  for 
the  hare,  for  crows,  ducks,  magpies  and  herons.  In 
the  annual  entitled  the  "Register  of  France,"  the  list 
of  all  this  personnel  fills  more  than  500  pages. 

To  this  crowd  of  people  whose  functions  kept  them 
near  the  king  is  to  be  added  all  the  lords  coming  to 
Versailles  to  visit  His  Majesty.  The  custom  of  gather- 
ing about  the  king  had  become  quite  general  among  the 
French  nobility ;  Louis  XIV.  made  it  almost  an  obliga- 
tion ;  he  wanted  the  nobles  of  birth  to  live  near  him ; 
each  day  he  made  his  rounds  to  see  if  any  one  was 

1  Of  these  two  services,  one  was  especially  for  the  king,  the 
other  for  the  people  of  his  household. 


ABSOLUTE   MONARCHY  353 

missing,  and  was  very  much  displeased  with  those 
who  remained  on  their  estates.  Besides  the  nobles 
went  willingly;  to  show  oneself  in  the  dwelling  of  the 
king  was  in  itself  an  honor  to  which  the  bourgeois, 
even  the  very  richest  among  them,  could  not  pretend 
that  he  did  not  desire  it.  To  be  admitted  to  the 
court  was  in  itself  sufficient  proof  of  noble  birth. 
To  stand  "well  at  court"  was  the  hope  of  sudden 
wealth,  for  the  only  career  open  to  a  gentleman  was 
in  the  offices  which  the  king  bestowed,  and  the  sole 
means  of  obtaining  them  was  to  go  and  demand 
them. 

We  hear  of  old  courtiers  who  spent  forty-five 
years  standing  in  the  ante-chambers  of  the  kings, 
princes  and  ministers.  Gentlemen  quickly  accustomed 
themselves  to  look  upon  the  court  as  the  sole  place  of 
sojourn,  proper  for  a  man  of  noble  birth.  To  be  sent 
to  one's  estates  was  a  disgrace.  De  Wardes,  returning 
to  court  after  a  long  exile,  said  to  Louis  XIV. : 
"Sire,  when  one  is  far  away  from  Your  Majesty,  one 
is  not  only  unfortunate,  one  is  ridiculous." 

Therefore  the  palace  was  always  full  of  gentlemen 
and  ladies  soliciting  the  favor  of  a  presentation  to  the 
king.  In  order  to  be  nearer  to  the  court  many  families 
had  magnificent  mansions  constructed  beside  the  pal- 
ace of  the  king ;  Versailles  became  a  city  of  80,000 
souls;  the  gentlemen  who  remained  "in  the  city,"  that 
is.  in  Paris,  came  continually  to  Versailles;  the  route 
between  the  two  cities  was  always  covered  with  car- 
riages. 

The  ensemble  of  the  household  of  the  king  and  his 
visitors  kept  the  old  name  of  court ;  those  who  came 


354  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

into  the  presence  of  the  king  "paid  him  court,"  and 
were  called  courtiers.  The  king  lived  in  the  midst  of 
this  multitude,  and  even  when  he  went  hunting  or 
to  his  chateau  of  Saint  Germain  he  was  followed  by 
a  file  of  state  carriages  bearing  his  servitors  and  his 
courtiers. 

The  Ceremonial — The  court  of  France  was  no 
longer  a  disorderly  crowd ;  Louis  XIV.  had  established 
the  etiquette  for  it,  he  regulated  the  life  of  the  king; 
he  made  a  ceremony  out  of  each  act  in  his  daily  life. 
The  levee  of  the  king  was  divided  into  five  acts.  At 
the  hour  indicated  the  first  "valet  de  chambre"  ap- 
proached the  bed  of  the  king,  then  went  and  opened 
for  the  grooms  of  the  chamber ;  another  went  to  inform 
the  chief  officer  of  the  buttery  and  the  cook,  so  that 
the  breakfast  could  be  brought  in;  another  took  pos- 
session of  the  door,  and  would  not  admit  any  one  not 
privileged  to  enter.  The  persons  admitted  to  see  the 
king  rise,  entered  in  groups.  The  first  was  the 
"familiar  entry,"  composed  of  the  princes  of  the  blood, 
physicians  and  surgeons.  Then  came  the  "grand  en- 
try" :  the  grand  chamberlain,  the  first  gentleman  of 
the  bed-chamber,  the  grand  master  of  the  wardrobe, 
the  barbers,  the  watch  and  the  clock  makers.  The  king 
being  still  in  bed,  the  first  "valet  de  chambre"  pours 
some  spirits  of  wine  on  the  hands  of  His  Majesty, 
holding  under  them  a  dish  of  silver  gilt.  Then  the  vase 
of  holy  water  is  presented  to  him,  the  king  takes  some 
of  the  water,  makes  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  repeats 
several  prayers.  When  the  king  gets  out  of  bed  he 
puts  on  his  slippers.  The  grand  chamberlain  puts  on 
him  his  dressing-gown,  the  first  valet  de  chambre  hold- 


ABSOLUTE   MONARCHY  355 

ing  it.  The  king  then  seats  himself  in  his  arm-chair. 
Then  begins  "the  entry  of  the  brevets,"  that  is,  the 
seigniors  to  whom  the  king  has  given  the  right  to 
enter,  the  four  secretaries,  the  readers,  the  intendants, 
the  consulting  physicians.  The  officers  of  the  ward- 
robe draw  near  in  order  to  dress  the  king.  This  is  "the 
entry  of  the  chamber" ;  with  the  ushers  enter  the  fol- 
lowing: the  valet  de  chambre,  the  cloak-bearers,  gun- 
bearers  ;  then  the  gentlemen  of  quality,  cardinals, 
bishops,  ambassadors,  dukes,  high  officers;  then  the 
usher  allows  all  the  nobility  and  officers  to  enter  in 
the  order  of  precedence. 

During  this  time  the  king  is  dressed,  the  two  pages 
take  off  his  slippers,  His  Majesty  takes  off  his  dressing- 
gown,  the  grand  master  of  the  wardrobe  pulls  off  the 
right  sleeve  of  the  royal  nightgown  and  the  first  valet 
de  chambre  pulls  off  the  left  sleeve.  A  groom  of  the 
wardrobe  brings  the  king's  shirt.  To  present  the 
shirt  to  the  king  is  a  signal  honor,  reserved  for  a 
prince  of  the  blood,  if  there  is  one  present,  if  not  it 
is  the  duty  of  the  grand  chamberlain  to  present  it. 
When  the  shirt  is  given  to  the  king  a  valet  de  chambre 
holds  the  right  sleeve  and  a  valet  of  the  wardrobe  holds 
the  left  sleeve.  The  king  rises  from  his  seat,  the  mas- 
ter of  the  wardrobe  assists  him  in  raising  his  trunk- 
hose.  Valets  bring  his  sword,  jacket  and  blue  ribbon, 
the  grand  master  of  the  wardrobe  fastens  the  sword 
at  his  side,  then  puts  on  his  jacket;  afterward  one  of 
the  valets  of  the  wardrobe  presents  his  doublet. 

There  is  even  a  ceremonial  for  putting  on  the  boots 
and  for  removing  them,  for  the  repasts,  the  audiences 
and  for  going  to  bed.     "You  will  observe,"  it  is  said 


356  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

in  the  "Register  of  France,"  "that  it  is  only  the  king 
who  has  a  candlestick  with  two  sockets  and  two  can- 
dles; the  queen's  candlesticks  have  only  one  socket 
and  one  candle."  Louis  XIV.  also  regulated  the  order 
in  which  each  one  should  be  presented,  who  should 
pass  in  first,  or  be  put  in  the  place  of  honor ;  this  is  the 
order  of  precedence.  He  decided  who  had  the  right 
to  be  present  at  the  repasts,  at  the  spectacles,  at  all 
feasts  or  celebrations,  who  had  the  right  to  sit  down 
in  the  presence  of  the  king. 

The  duchesses  alone  were  seated  on  the  tabourets 
or  folding  seats,  the  others  remained  standing.  The 
"tabouret,"  the  "divine  tabouret,"  as  Madame  de 
Sevigne  calls  it,  was  the  greatest  honor  that  a  lady 
could  have  at  the  court. 

There  is  a  court  costume.  The  simple  and  elegant 
dress  of  the  time  of  Louis  XIII.  was  replaced  with 
garments  of  silk  stuffs,  trimmed  with  lace,  on  the 
sleeves,  down  the  front  and  at  the  knees ;  the  hat  with 
its  long  plumes  was  preserved,  but  the  enormous  pow- 
dered peruke  became  under  Louis  XIV.  an  indispensa- 
ble part  of  the  costume.  The  ladies  confined  the  waist 
in  a  sort  of  stiff  corset. 

That  which  is  from  the  court  became  the  fashion ; 
the  court  costume  was  adopted  in  Paris,  and  they  even 
tried  to  imitate  it  in  the  smaller  towns.  It  is  the  court 
too  which  gives  tone  to  conversation  and  to  manners. 
In  each  town  the  seigniors,  the  functionaries,  the  rich 
bourgeois  had  their  salons  where  they  received  the 
people  of  the  city  or  town,  and  where  all  tried  to  take 
on  the  tone  of  the  court.  The  life  at  court  created  the 
salon  in  France. 


ABSOLUTE   MONARCHY  357 

The  Government. — The  king  wanted  alone  to  exer- 
cise absolute  authority.  As  he  would  not  have  been 
able  to  take  upon  himself  alone  the  burden  of  all  the 
affairs  of  such  a  great  kingdom,  he  chose  ministers 
to  aid  him  in  governing.  These  ministers  bore  differ- 
ent titles :  chancellor,  controller  general,  superintend- 
ent of  buildings ;  several  had  only  the  ancient  title 
of  secretary  of  state.  He  divided  the  supervision  of 
the  affairs  of  state  among  them,  without,  however, 
making  an  exact  division,  as  in  the  modern  cabinet. 

For  example,  Colbert,  who  was  controller  of 
finances,  also  had  charge  of  the  marine  service,  of  the 
commerce  of  the  kingdom  and  of  the  department  of 
justice ;  Louvois  had  at  the  same  time  charge  of  the 
war  department,  foreign  affairs  and  of  public  build- 
ings. In  order  to  regulate  questions  of  general  interest 
the  ministers  came  together  in  council  with  the  king. 
All  business  was  brought  to  the  cabinet  of  the  king, 
and  the  ministers  decided  everything  without  control 
in  a  sovereign  manner.  They  were,  however,  nothing 
but  ordinary  people,  from  the  petty  nobility  or  per- 
haps from  the  bourgeoisie.  "It  is  not  to  my  interest," 
said  the  king,  "to  take  men  of  eminent  rank.  It  must 
be  made  known  to  the  public,  from  the  very  rank  where 
I  take  them,  that  my  design  is  not  to  share  my  author- 
ity with  them."  This  is  the  reason  why  the  Duke  of 
Saint-Simon  calls  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  "a  long 
reign  of  vile  bourgeoisie."  It  was  the  same  during 
the  whole  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

The  Administration — The  king  and  the  ministers 
could  not  enter  into  details  of  affairs  in  each  province. 
They  reserved  for  themselves  the  government,  that  is, 


358  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

the  decision  in  general  and  in  important  affairs;  they 
left  the  administration,  that  is,  the  decision  in  local 
and  in  affairs  of  minor  importance,  to  agents  chosen 
by  them.  Into  each  province  they  sent  an  agent,  whose 
business  it  was  to  inform  the  minsters  of  what  was 
taking  place,  to  receive  their  orders  and  to  see  that 
they  were  carried  out.  He  was  called  the  intendant 
of  police,  justice  and  finance  (this  title  indicates  that 
he  united  in  one  all  these  functions).  Like  the  minis- 
ters, the  intendants  were  only  bourgeois  or  those  who 
were  ennobled  by  their  office;  they  were  taken  from 
among  the  maitre  des  requetes,  that  is,  from  the 
magistrates,  who  presented  the  reports  to  the  council. 
But,  like  the  ministers,  they  were  all-powerful  in  their 
provinces  because  they  were  the  king's  men.  The 
minister  was  in  regular  correspondence  with  them,  and 
had  them  send  to  him  secret  reports  concerning  the 
great  personages  and  the  magistrates  of  the  country. 
He  had  confidence  in  them  only,  and  supported  them 
against  the  established  powers,  the  parlements  and  the 
governors.  As  their  functions  were  vast  and  not 
clearly  defined,  they  constantly  augmented  their  pow- 
ers. By  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  they  had 
full  authority.  The  Scotchman,  Law,  who  was  minis- 
ter in  1718,  said  to  d'Argenson :  "Never  would  I  have 
believed  what  I  saw  when  I  was  controller  of  finance. 
You  must  know  that  this  kingdom  of  France  is  gov- 
erned by  thirty  intendants.  You  have  neither  parle- 
ments nor  estates,  nor  governors ;  there  are  thirty 
maitre  des  requetes,  provincial  clerks  on  whom  depends 
the  happiness  or  unhappiness  of  these  provinces." 
In  order  to  facilitate  their  labor  the  intendants  had 


ABSOLUTE   MONARCHY  359 

under  them  sub-delegates,  each  one  of  whom  admin- 
istered a  subdivision  of  the  province.  The  adminis- 
tration continued  its  encroachments,  and  grew  more 
powerful ;  one  could  not  build  a  school-house,  repair  a 
church,  make  a  road,  without  first  obtaining  permis- 
sion from  the  intendant. 

The  Police — It  was  under'Louis  XIV.  that  the  police 
began  to  be  distinguished  from  the  judiciary.  In  1667 
the  king  created  the  office  of  lieutenant  of  police,  with 
the  mission  of  preventing  disorder  in  the  streets  of 
Paris,  of  taking  charge  of  the  streets  and  of  watching 
over  the  supplies. 

The  police,  like  the  administration,  quickly  became 
a  great  power ;  it  had  spies  who  penetrated  into  every 
house,  and  who  knew  the  secrets  of  every  family, 
agents,  bailiff's  followers,  who  arrested  suspected  par- 
ties. As  the  police  acted  in  the  name  of  public 
safety,  it  had  the  right  to  proceed  rapidly,  without 
formality  and  without  control;  a  "lettre  de  cachet" 
was  sufficient  to  cause  the  arrest  and  imprisonment  in 
the  Bastille  of  any  one,  whoever  he  might  be.  The 
police  was  the  more  feared,  because  it  operated 
secretly;  no  one  felt  himself  safe  from  attack. 

It  was  a  maxim  of  all  the  absolute  governments  that 
no  private  individual  had  the  right  to  publish  anything 
until  he  was  assured  of  the  approbation  of  the  govern- 
ment. A  commission  of  censorship  was  charged  with 
the  examination  of  all  printed  matter,  books  or 
journals,  and  nothing  that  appeared  dangerous  was 
to  be  allowed  to  pass.  Every  book  was  to  have  in 
front  a  permit  to  print.  If  a  book  had  appeared  with- 
out authorization  the  author  and  the  publisher  were 


360  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

prosecuted  as  criminals,  sometimes  they  were  sent  to 
the  galleys.  In  1694  a  journeyman  printer  and  a 
binder's  apprentice  were  hung  on  the  Place  de  Greve 
for  having  printed  and  bound  libels  against  the  king 
and  Madame  de  Maintenon.  The  Telemaque  of  Fene- 
lon,  "the  Dime  royal"  of  Vauban  were  prohibited; 
copies  of  these  works  found  at  the  bookshops  were 
seized  and  burned. 

The  Finances. — The  government  had  continued  the 
ancient  imposts,  the  villein  tax,  the  aids,  the  gabelle 
to  which  Louis  XIV.  added  the  capitation  tax  and  the 
land  tax.  Several  provinces  (Languedoc,  Provence, 
Burgundy)  had  kept  the  right  of  voting  their  own  im- 
posts ;  the  Estates  of  the  province  assembled  each  year 
and  fixed  the  amount  of  the  tax  to  be  levied;  these 
were  called  Estates-districts.  But  the  greater  number 
of  the  provinces  of  France  had  no  longer  any  Estates. 
They  were  called  Elective-districts,  because  the  control 
of  the  finances  in  those  districts  was  under  the  elected, 
that  is,  the  chosen  officers  of  the  king.  In  these  dis- 
tricts the  king's  council  fixed  the  sum  to  be  paid  by  the 
province,  the  intendant  and  those  in  charge  of  the 
moneys  apportioned  it  among  the  towns  and  parishes. 
In  each  parish  the  administration  chose  collectors  from 
among  the  richest  citizens ;  these  collectors  were  to 
have  charge  of  the  tax-levy.  They  decided  what 
amount  each  inhabitant  of  the  parish  should  pay,  and 
they  collected  the  money;  they  could  employ  force  if 
necessary.  As  the  villein  tax  was  paid  neither  by  the 
clergy  nor  by  the  nobles,  nor  by  the  functionaries,  nor 
by  the  rich  bourgeois  it  fell  with  all  its  weight  upon  the 
peasants.     Generally  it  could  be  levied  only  by  the 


ABSOLUTE   MONARCHY  361 

most  rigorous  measures :  bailiffs  were  sent  to  the  one 
who  was  in  arrears,  they  were  lodged  in  his  house  and 
ate  at  his  expense  until  he  had  paid  in  full,  or  else 
they  seized  and  sold  his  furniture.  The  collectors  were 
themselves  responsible  for  the  impost;  when  they  did 
not  succeed  in  collecting  it  their  own  property  was 
confiscated,  and  they  were  thrown  into  prison. 

The  aids  fell  upon  the  wine,  brandies,  oils,  cards  and 
upon  stamped  paper.  The  government  did  not  take 
the  trouble  to  levy  these  taxes,  it  made  an  agreement 
with  certain  contractors,  who  were  called  farmers  of 
the  revenue,  or  financiers.  In  consideration  of  a  fixed 
sum  it  sold  to  them  the  right  to  levy  the  tax  for  their 
own  benefit.  The  farmers  of  the  revenue  united  in 
companies,  and  had  a  numerous  personnel  of  sub- 
altern agents  in  their  service.  They  usually  made 
enormous  profits ;  in  the  eighteenth  century  the  wealth 
of  these  financiers  had  become  proverbial. 

RELIGIOUS    AFFAIRS 

Relgious  Policy  of  Louis  XIV. — Louis  XIV.  intended 
to  govern  his  subjects  as  an  absolute  master  and  to 
regulate  their  religion  according  to  his  will,  just  as 
he  regulated  the  affairs  of  the  state.  He  admitted  no 
more  liberty  of  conscience  than  he  did  political  liberty, 
and  he  believed  that  he  had  the  right  to  force  his 
subjects  to  obey  him  in  matters  of  faith.  That  was 
the  doctrine  of  Bossuet :  "Those  who  will  not  suffer 
that  the  king  should  use  rigor  in  the  matter  of  religion, 
because  religion  should  be  free,  are  living  in  ungodly 
error." 


362  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

Louis  XIV.  considered  himself  as  the  head  of  the 
French  Church ;  in  virtue  of  this  he  wanted  to  com- 
mand the  clergy  and  to  dictate  to  them  what  their  con- 
duct should  be  in  regard  to  the  pope.  He  regarded 
himself  as  the  defender  of  the  Catholic  religion ;  for 
this  reason  he  wanted  to  force  his  Protestant  subjects 
to  become  Catholics,  and  to  oblige  his  Catholic  sub- 
jects to  profess  the  same  form  of  Catholicism  as  that 
held  by  the  king. 

But  while  it  was  at  that  time  easy  to  obtain  obedience 
in  secular  affairs,  because  the  subjects  believed  that 
they  had  no  right  to  oppose  the  sovereign,  it  was  some- 
times impossible  to  constrain  the  consciences  of  the 
believers,  who  feared  that  in  obeying  the  king  they 
might  disobey  God.  Louis  XIV.  could  govern  des- 
potically without  encountering  any  opposition ;  but 
when  he  tried  to  impose  his  will  concerning  questions 
of  religion  he  met  with  a  resistance  that  the  might  of 
his  power  could  not  break.  He  had  to  contend  with 
three  kinds  of  adversaries :  the  Protestants,  the  Jan- 
senists  and  the  partisans  of  the  papal  power. 

Conflict  with  Protestantism. — After  the  time  of 
Richelieu  the  Protestants  had  ceased  to  form  a  political 
party ;  but  they  still  held  the  right  to  worship  accord- 
ing to  their  own  belief ;  the  king  had  recognized  this 
right,  and  had  guaranteed  it  by  an  edict  which  con- 
firmed the  Edict  of  Nantes.  But  the  ecclesiastics  who 
surrounded  Louis  XIV.  did  not  regard  as  valid  any 
promise  made  to  heretics,  and  contrary  to  the  interests 
of  the  church.  The  assembly  of  the  French  clergy, 
which  met  every  five  years  in  order  to  vote  the  tax 
imposed  on  the  clergy,   persuaded   the  king  to  take 


ABSOLUTE   MONARCHY  363 

measures  against  heresy.  As  the  edict  prevented  the 
immediate  suppression  of  Calvinism  they  tried  at  first 
by  measures  in  detail  to  compel  the  conversion  of  the 
Calvinists.  They  adopted  the  plan  of  giving  to  all 
questions  the  interpretation  most  unfavorable  to  the 
Protestants.  The  Edict  of  Nantes  had  declared  that 
the  Calvinists  had  the  right  to  establish  schools  for 
the  children  of  their  faith,  but  it  did  not  say  how 
many;  the  king  decided  that  there  could  be  only  one 
school  in  a  town,  and  only  one  instructor  in  that  school. 
The  edict  had  declared  that  the  Calvinists  had  the 
right  to  bring  up  their  children  in  their  religion;  but 
it  did  not  set  a  limit  to  the  age ;  the  king  decided  that 
the  children  should  have  the  right  to  become  Catholics 
at  the  age  of  seven,  inasmuch  as  at  that  age  ''they  are 
capable  of  reasoning  and  of  choosing  in  a  matter  as 
important  as  that  of  their  salvation." 

At  the  same  time  two  methods  of  procedure  were 
employed  for  the  conversion  of  the  Calvinists.  Favors, 
places,  honors,  were  given  to  those  who  became  Catho- 
lics; even  a  conversion-fund  was  created,  which  was 
used  to  pay  those  who  were  converted.  On  the  other 
hand,  they  made  life  unendurable  for  those  who 
remained  Protestants.  One  by  one  all  professions  by 
which  they  could  earn  their  living  were  closed  to  them ; 
a  Calvinist  could  not  be  a  notary,  attorney,  prosecutor, 
doctor  or  book-merchant,  and  finally  they  were  pre- 
vented from  engaging  in  commercial  or  industrial  pur- 
suits. The  intendants  had  their  orders  to  choose  in 
preference  the  Calvinists  when  it  was  necessary  to 
increase  the  taxes,  or  to  quarter  soldiers  in  lodgings. 
At  last  they  sent  to  the  homes  of  the  Calvinists  troops 


364  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

of  dragoons,  to  whom  every  excess  was  permitted; 
these  were  the  dragonnades.  At  the  same  time  a  great 
number  of  temples  were  demolished  under  the  pretext 
that  they  were  unauthorized,  and  the  Calvinists  were 
forbidden  to  assemble  in  the  open  air  for  the  purpose 
of  worship. 

In  order  to  escape  these  annoyances  many  Protes- 
tants were  resigned  to  declare  themselves  Catholics; 
the  intendants  exaggerated  the  number  of  conversions, 
and  Louis  XIV.,  believing  that  there  were  almost  no 
Protestants  in  France,  revoked  the  Edict  of  Nantes 
(1685)  because  it  was  useless.  He  ordered  all  the 
pastors  to  leave  the  kingdom  within  fifteen  days  under 
pain  of  the  galleys. 

Then  the  persecution  changed  in  character.  It  was 
no  longer  a  question  of  conversion ;  all  the  Protestants 
were  reputed  to  have  passed  over  to  Catholicism ;  they 
were  called  the  "new  converts."  But  they  refused  to 
show  any  proof  of  Catholicism,  to  go  to  mass,  to  com- 
mune, to  confess,  to  receive  extreme  unction;  they 
continued  to  bring  up  their  children  in  their  religion, 
to  hold  their  worship,  to  receive  their  pastors  in  secret, 
even  to  hold  their  assemblies  in  the  open  air  in  some 
out  of  the  way  place,  "in  the  desert,"  as  they  were 
accustomed  to  say.  Many  sought  to  leave  a  kingdom 
where  their  conscience  had  no  freedom,  in  order  to  emi- 
grate to  Protestant  lands.  The  government  wanted  to 
compel  them  to  remain  in  France,  to  become  good 
Catholics,  to  bring  up  their  children  in  Catholicism.  A 
guard  was  set  at  the  frontiers ;  the  Protestants,  seek- 
ing to  escape,  were  captured,  the  men  were  sent  to  the 
galleys,  and  the  women  to  prison.     Those  who  were 


ABSOLUTE   MONARCHY  365 

suspected  were  watched;  the  pastors  who  were  seized 
were  put  to  death ;  the  people  who  were  present  at  any 
service  were  sent  to  the  galleys. 

The  children  were  taken  from  their  parents,  the 
daughters  were  placed  in  convents,  and  the  sons  were 
put  in  charge  of  Catholics  whose  duty  it  was  to  edu- 
cate them  in  the  true  faith.  This  persecution  lasted 
thirty  years  (until  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.), 
and  it  was  several  times  renewed  during  the  eighteenth 
century. 

The  purpose  of  Louis  XIV.  was  to  extirpate  Cal- 
vinism in  France.  He  succeeded  in  part ;  in  the  North 
of  France,  where  the  government  was  more  perfectly 
organized,  no  more  Protestants  remained.  On  the 
other  hand  many  of  them  remained  in  the  South,  in 
Poitou,  and  in  the  Cevennes  Mountains.  But  there 
were  hardly  any  except  peasant  families  among  them. 
The  nobles  and  the  bourgeois  were  converted,  or  else 
they  emigrated.  The  Protestant  countries  in  the 
North,  England,  Holland,  Prussia  especially,  gained 
through  this  emigration  industrious  and  intelligent 
inhabitants.  By  it  French  Calvinism  lost  its  most 
potent  force,  and  has  never  recovered  from  the  blow. 
In  the  seventeenth  century  the  Calvinists  formed  one- 
fifteenth  of  the  population  of  France ;  the  present  pro- 
portion is  one  in  sixty. 

The  Jansenists. — The  Jansenists,  disciples  of  Jan- 
senius,  Bishop  of  Ypres  in  Belgium,  had  remained 
Catholic,  but  they  had  found  themselves  in  opposition 
to  the  church  ever  since  the  Jesuits  had  obtained  from 
the  pope  the  condemnation  of  several  propositions 
taken  from  the  works  of  Jansenius.    The  sect  was  not 


366  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

numerous.  Its  importance  was  due  to  the  fact  that  it 
included  in  its  membership  many  families  of  magis- 
trates and  several  great  writers,  Pascal,  Arnaud, 
Nicole,  Racine.  Louis  XIV.  had  a  Jesuit  for  his  con- 
fessor ;  he  wanted  to  make  the  Jansenists  sign  a  declara- 
tion that  they  acknowledged  the  falsity  of  their  peculiar 
doctrines.  The  Jansenists  refused ;  the  king  employed 
force.  There  were  two  persecutions  under  his  reign ; 
one  from  1664- 1666,  the  other  began  in  1701.  The 
first  persecution  closed  the  schools  of  the  Jansenists, 
and  dispersed  the  nuns  in  the  convent  of  Port 
Royal  de  Paris ;  it  was  stopped,  thanks  to  Clement  IX., 
who  modified  the  declaration  in  such  a  way  as  to  make 
it  acceptable  to  the  Jansenists.  The  second  persecu- 
tion was  more  violent;  the  pope  proclaimed  the  sup- 
pression of  the  Convent  de  Port  Royal  des  Champs. 

In  1709  the  lieutenant  of  police  went  and  arrested 
the  nuns,  the  convent  was  demolished,  the  church 
destroyed,  the  bones  of  dead  Jansenists  were  exhumed 
and  scattered  abroad.  Jansenism  became  an  obscure 
sect,  and  slowly  disappeared. 

The  Conflict  with  the  Court  at  Rome. — Louis  XIV. 
wished  to  compel  his  subjects  to  return  to  the  Catholic 
Church,  but  he  himself  claimed  to  control  the  French 
Church.  He  was  often  in  conflict  with  the  pope,  and 
did  not  scruple  to  send  troops  to  Avignon  to  occupy 
the  papal  domains,  and  to  force  the  pope  to  yield.  The 
chief  difference  began  on  the  subject  of  the  "regale." 
In  nearly  all  the  provinces  of  France  the  king  had  the 
right  to  the  revenue  of  a  bishopric  so  long  as  the  charge 
was  vacant;  this  was  called  the  "regale."  Louis  XIV. 
presumed  to  extend  this  right  over  four  provinces  in 


ABSOLUTE   MONARCHY  367 

the  South,  where  none  of  his  predecessors  had  ever 
had  any  such  right.  Two  bishops  refused,  and  were 
sustained  by  the  pope;  Louis  XIV.  seized  their  rev- 
enues. The  pope  excommunicated  all  ecclesiastics  who 
would  submit  to  the  edict  of  the  king  (1681). 

Louis  XIV.,  in  order  to  intimidate  the  pope,  then 
carried  the  quarrel  into  the  field  of  doctrines.  He  con- 
vened the  clergy  of  France  in  an  assembly  ruled  by 
Bossuet,  and  demanded  them  to  formulate  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Gallican  Church;  the  prelates,  who  were 
dependent  upon  the  government,  adopted  the  proposi- 
tions, which  were  presented  to  them,  and  signed  the 
Declaration  of  1682.  This  manifesto,  sets  forth  in 
four  articles  the  old  theory  sustained  by  the  councils 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  preserved  since  then  by 
the  French  magistrates,  under  the  name  of  the  liberties 
of  the  Gallican  Church.  The  oecumenical  council  is 
superior  to  the  pope,  the  decisions  of  the  pope  are  only 
irrevocable  after  they  have  been  adopted  by  the  coun- 
cil ;  the  pope  has  no  power  in  temporal  affairs,  he  has 
not  the  right  to  make  any  change  in  the  usages  of  the 
Gallican  Church.  That  means  that  the  Church  of 
France  is  perfectly  free,  so  far  as  regards  the  pope; 
but  it  is  subject  to  the  king.  The  parlements,  parti- 
sans of  this  doctrine,  ordered  the  faculties  of  theology 
to  transcribe  this  declaration  upon  their  registers.  The 
faculty  of  Paris  (Sorbonne)  protested;  the  parlement 
had  the  registers  brought  and  ordered  its  own  clerks 
to  write  off  the  declaration  ;  the  king  sent  away  from 
Paris  eight  doctors  who  had  attracted  especial  notice 
by  their  opposition. 

But   the   pope,   Innocent   XL,   did  not   accept  that 


368  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

declaration,  and  punished  those  who  had  signed  it  by 
refusing  to  allow  the  investiture  when  the  king  ap- 
pointed the  bishops.  As  no  one  could  bear  the  title 
of  bishop  without  having  been  invested  by  the  pope,  it 
became  impossible  to  fill  the  office;  at  the  death  of 
Innocent  XL,  twenty-nine  dioceses  were  vacant. 

Louis  XIV.,  engaged  in  a  war  against  the  whole  of 
Europe,  decided  to  yield.  The  new  pope,  Innocent 
XII.,  granted  the  bulls  of  investiture,  the  king  ceased 
to  impose  upon  the  faculties  of  theology  the  acceptance 
of  the  declaration  of  1682.  All  the  prelates  who  had 
signed  it,  by  an  official  act,  demanded  pardon  from  the 
pope,  declaring  that  they  never  had  had  any  intention 
of  "saying  anything  against  the  authority  of  the 
Roman  pontiff,  even  in  favor  of  the  authority  of  the 
councils." 


CHAPTER   XXIV 
INTERNATIONAL   RELATIONS 

DIPLOMACY 

Balance  of  Power  in  Europe. — The  emperor  had  for 
a  long  time  claimed  that  his  title  made  him  superior 
to  all  the  other  sovereigns;  Charles  V.  was  even  sus- 
pected of  wishing  to  establish  a  "universal  monarchy," 
and  several  of  the  powers  had  united  to  make  war  upon 
him.  In  the  seventeenth  century  the  diplomats  ad- 
mitted that  it  was  to  the  interest  of  the  countries  of 
Europe  that  no  state  should  become  sufficiently  power- 
ful for  the  temptation  to  arise  of  wanting  to  have 
dominion  over  all  the  others.  When  a  state  already 
powerful  sought  aggrandizement  all  the  others  must 
feel  themselves  menaced,  and  must  unite  against  it, 
so  as  to  make  a  counterpoise;  this  was  called  the  bal- 
ance of  power  in  Europe. 

The  balance  of  power  had  been  threatened  by  the 
King  of  Spain,  Philip  II.,  about  the  end  of  the  six- 
teenth century;  it  was  preserved  by  the  alliance  made 
between  Henry  IV.,  Elizabeth  of  England  and  the 
revolting  subjects  of  Spain  in  Holland. 

Toward  1628  the  balance  of  power  was  again 
destroyed  when  the  two  branches  of  the  house  of 
Austria,  that  is  to  say,  the  King  of  Spain  and  the 
emperor,  united  in  a  war  against  the  Calvinists  of  Hol- 

369 


370  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

land  and  Germany.  Thanks  to  the  army  commanded 
by  Wallenstein,  the  emperor  found  himself  in  a  posi- 
tion to  lord  it  over  all  the  German  princes,  and  to 
impose  on  them  the  Edict  of  Restitution,  which  took 
away  from  them  all  the  ecclesiastical  domains,  secular- 
ized since  1558. 

The  equilibrium  was  restored  through  the  efforts 
of  the  King  of  Sweden  and  the  King  of  France.  They, 
feeling  themselves  menaced  by  the  conditions,  made  an 
alliance  in  order  to  oppose  the  growing  power  of  the 
house  of  Austria,  and  succeeded,  after  they  had  rav- 
aged Germany,  and  forced  upon  the  emperor  the  peace 
of  Westphalia  (1648). 

During  all  these  wars  the  kings  of  England  were 
too  busy  making  war  on  their  own  subjects  to  play 
an  important  role  in  the  affairs  of  Europe. 

Treaties  of  Westphalia. — The  Thirty  Years'  War 
having  been  general  throughout  Europe  negotiations 
with  all  the  great  powers  were  necessary  in  order 
to  put  an  end  to  the  strife.  It  was  agreed  that  a 
congress  should  assemble  in  two  of  the  towns  in  West- 
phalia. At  the  congress  each  power  would  be  repre- 
sented by  plenipotentiaries  charged  with  acting  in  the 
name  of  their  governments.  The  congress  met  in 
1643,  and  continued  for  five  years;  kings  of  France, 
Spain  and  Sweden  were  not  anxious  to  conclude  a 
peace,  and  had  given  instructions  to  their  envoys  that 
the  negotiations  must  be  protracted. 

The  treaties  of  Westphalia,  drawn  up  by  the  con- 
gress, recognized  Holland,  Switzerland  and  the  Ger- 
man princes  as  independent  powers,  having  the  right 
to  declare  war  and  to  form  alliances. 


INTERNATIONAL    RELATIONS  371 

The  emperor  gave  up  the  government  of  Germany, 
each  of  the  petty  German  princes  became  a  sovereign, 
and  had  the  right  to  regulate  the  religion  of  his  own 
domain.  The  kings  of  France  and  Sweden  had  trans- 
ferred to  themselves  a  portion  of  the  territory  of  the 
empire,  by  way  of  compensation  for  the  aid  they  had 
given  against  the  emperor. 

The  Negotiations. — From  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century  every  government  had  its  accredited  ambassa- 
dor to  the  other  governments ;  by  accredited  we  mean 
appointed  officially  to  represent  the  government.  The 
King  of  France,  for  example,  had  his  ambassador  to 
the  King  of  Spain,  to  the  King  of  Sweden,  to  the 
emperor,  etc. ;  reciprocally  these  monarchs  sent  their 
envoys  to  the  King  of  France. 

Henceforth  the  ambassador  is  a  fixture,  he  remains 
in  the  country  to  which  he  is  sent;  he  is  withdrawn 
only  to  give  place  to  his  successor.  To  recall  an  am- 
bassador without  sending  another  in  his  place  signifies 
that  there  is  a  desire  to  break  off  relations,  and  the 
recall  is  equivalent  to  a  declaration  of  war. 

The  ambassador  represents  the  person  of  his  sover- 
eign. The  government  to  which  he  is  sent  treats  him 
with  much  respect ;  he  is  invited  to  all  the  entertain- 
ments ;  he  has  the  precedence  of  the  most  distinguished 
persons  in  the  country;  his  house  is  held  inviolate,  the 
police  have  no  right  to  enter  it.  In  ordinary  times  the 
role  of  ambassador  is  confined  to  the  transmission  of 
the  official  communications  of  his  government,  to  pre- 
sent felicitations  or  condolences  on  the  part  of  his 
master  and  to  be  present  at  official  ceremonies.  There- 
fore care  is  taken  that  the  choice  of  an  ambassador 


372  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

should  be  made  from  men  of  noble  birth,  accustomed 
to  the  manners  and  customs  of  court  life,  capable  of 
observing  the  etiquette  and  of  brilliantly  representing 
the  sovereign.  But  the  ambassador  has  also  the  negoti- 
ation of  affairs  which  concern  the  two  governments ; 
he  must  persuade  the  government  to  which  he  is  sent, 
to  conclude  an  alliance  with  his  own  government  or 
to  make  peace  with  a  powerful  friend  or  to  break  off 
an  alliance  with  a  powerful  enemy.  In  order  to  pre- 
pare for  the  war  with  Holland  the  agents  of  Louis 
XIV.  held  negotiations  with  the  powers,  who  were 
allies  of  Holland,  until  they  succeeded  in  detaching 
almost  all  of  them;  the  envoys  of  Holland  in  their 
turn  passed  years  in  forming  a  coalition  against  Louis 
XIV.  When  powers  at  war  decide  to  make  peace  their 
diplomats  go  and  confer  in  some  town  agreed  upon, 
for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the  terms  of  peace ;  often 
a  neutral  power  offers  to  mediate,  and  its  envoys  unite 
with  those  of  the  belligerent  powers  to  help  them  to 
come  to  an  agreement. 

The  diplomats  depart  with  instructions  from  their 
governments,  tracing  out  the  line  of  conduct  that  they 
must  follow,  and  they  continue  to  receive  their  orders 
in  special  dispatches.  But  usually  they  have  full 
powers;  they  can  set  the  conditions  of  treaties;  what- 
ever they  may  do  is  approved  in  advance ;  their  signa- 
ture pledges  their  government.  Therefore  only  clever 
and  trustworthy  men  are  chosen.  The  diplomat  should 
know  how  to  conduct  all  negotiations  in  a  way  favor- 
able to  his  master,  to  beguile  the  diplomats  with  whom 
he  treats  in  order  to  make  them  agree  to  the  most 
advantageous  conditions,  all  the  while  holding  him- 


INTERNATIONAL    RELATIONS  373 

self  on  guard  against  seduction,  dissimulating  his 
intentions  while  inspiring  confidence.  He  must  al- 
ways be  composed  and  must  always  observe  the  forms 
of  polite  society.  Diplomacy  became  a  doubly  refined 
art  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and  the  word  diplomat 
was  synonymous  with  "crafty  dissembler." 

Diplomatic  negotiations  had  at  that  time  (the  eigh- 
teenth century)  a  great  range.  Each  country  1  was 
considered  to  be  the  domain  of  a  reigning  family,  and 
the  government  followed  the  rules  common  to  private 
ownership.  At  the  death  of  a  sovereign  the  State 
passed  over  to  his  heir,  if  need  were  it  was  divided 
among  several  heirs;  if  he  had  no  direct  heir  the 
country  fell  to  the  share  of  some  distant  relative,  usu- 
ally to  some  foreign  prince,  for  the  members  of  a 
reigning  family  could  marry  only  into  another  royal 
family,  consequently  only  outside  of  their  native  land. 

The  sovereign  also  had  the  right  to  exchange  or  to 
give  up  his  provinces,  if  he  so  wished.  In  any  case 
the  subjects  were  not  consulted ;  the  country  belonged 
to  the  sovereign,  not  to  the  inhabitants.  It  was  the 
sovereigns  who  carried  on  negotiations,  not  the  in- 
habitants. Until  the  nineteenth  century  treaties  had 
been  signed  only  in  the  name  of  the  sovereigns ;  a 
treaty  was  concluded  not  between  France  and  Prussia,2 
but  between  the  King  of  France  and  the  King  of 
Prussia. 

This  system  is  called  the  family  policy.  It  reduces 
affairs  of  the  state  to  family  affairs.      Questions  of 

1  Except  the  republics  of  Switzerland,  Holland,  Venice,  and 
Genoa. 

3  This  manner  of  speaking,  which  is  usually  employed  in  the 
manuals  of  history  is  very  inexact. 


374  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

marriage,  of  succession,  of  contracts,  give  rise  to  wars, 
which  ravage  Europe  and  serve  as  a  foundation  for 
treaties,  which  change  the  fate  of  nations. 

All  these  affairs  are  arranged  in  secret  by  the  diplo- 
mats, they  are  decided  without  taking  into  account 
the  interests  of  the  people,  but  only  according  to  the 
desires  of  the  sovereign. 

The  Operations  of  Diplomacy — The  ambassadors 
have  an  interest  in  knowing  the  secrets  of  the  court 
where  they  reside ;  it  may  be  to  keep  their  government 
informed  of  them,  or  it  may  be  to  aid  their  own  move- 
ments in  the  negotiations.  They  pay  spies  to  gather 
information,  or  even  corrupt,  by  the  payment  of  money, 
some  servant  or  favorite  of  the  prince.  This  has  been 
the  recognized  usage.  Already,  during  the  negotia- 
tions in  Westphalia,  the  court  of  Spain  had  bribed  the 
son  of  Trautmansdorf,  the  plenipotentiary  of  the  em- 
peror, by  giving  him  12,000  ecus,  to  induce  him  to  tell 
what  he  knew,  and  Mazarin  wrote  to  his  envoys  that 
"it  would  be  a  good  thing  to  make  him  take  a  larger 
sum."  Wicquefort,  who,  about  the  end  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  wrote  a  "Treatise  on  the  Duty  of  an 
Ambassador,"  thus  entitled  one  of  the  chapters :  "It  is 
permissible  for  an  ambassador  to  corrupt  the  ministers 
of  the  court  where  he  resides."  "The  ambassador,"  he 
says  then,  "is  an  honorable  spy;  when  he  is  winning 
over  one  of  the  ministers  he  remains  within  the  limits 
of  his  function." 

Another  means  of  gaining  information  was  to  in- 
tercept letters.  In  1685  Louvois,  learning  that  the 
courier  of  the  emperor  was  coming  back  from  Spain, 
wrote  to  the  commandant  at  Strasburg:  "His  Majesty 


INTERNATIONAL   RELATIONS  375 

deems  it  important  that  this  post  should  be  rifled  and 
the  dispatches  seized.  Therefore  he  commands  that 
you  place  in  some  village  close  to  the  post-route,  be- 
tween Saverne  and  Strasburg,  three  or  four  trust- 
worthy men,  who  can  rob  the  courier,  take  his 
dispatches;  his  person  must  be  carefully  examined,  as 
well  as  under  the  saddle,  to  be  done  under  pretext  of 
searching  for  money."  The  letters  in  this  case  were 
earried  off  by  pretended  brigands. 

WAR 

Permanent  Armies. — The  princes  preserved,  until 
the  seventeenth  century,  the  custom  of  taking  bands 
of  mercenaries  into  their  pay;  they  dealt  directly  with 
the  colonel  or  the  captain,  who  had  taken  it  upon  him- 
self to  muster  into  service  these  men,  and  to  support 
them  for  a  certain  amount  of  money.  It  was  with  these 
bands  of  mercenaries  that  the  Thirty  Years'  War  was 
carried  on.  The  soldiers  were  for  the  most  part  not 
the  subjects  of  the  prince  whom  they  served,  and  with- 
out any  scruples  they  went  over  to  the  service  of 
another,  even  to  the  enemy.  The  army  was  a  set  of 
adventurers  from  every  country,  Germans,  Croatians,Tr 
Irish  Walloons,  held  in  service  through  their  pay  only. 
The  army  had  no  uniform ;  each  soldier  dressed  as  he 
pleased ;  to  be  able  to  recognize  each  other  in  a  battle  it 
was  necessary  to  adopt  a  common  sign :  at  the  battle 
of  Breitenfeld  the  imperial  army  had  a  white  ribbon 
on  the  arm  and  on  the  hat,  the  Swedes  had  a  green 
branch. 

It  was  difficult  to  make  these  bands  manoeuvre  to- 


376  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

gether,  even  to  make  them  obey.  In  1647  tne  Wey- 
marians  in  the  pay  of  the  King  of  France  (for  so  were 
called  the  bands  that  had  formerly  served  under  Ber- 
nard of  Saxe- Weimar)  refused  to  start  on  the  cam- 
paign ;  Turenne  ordered  the  French  cavalry  to  charge 
on  them.  Often  after  a  defeat  the  generals  could  not 
find  their  army ;  the  soldiers  had  disbanded.  The  gov- 
ernments felt  the  need  of  having  more  trustworthy 
armies,  and  adopted  the  custom  of  maintaining  on  a 
war  footing,  even  in  times  of  peace,  the  troops  which 
they  would  need  in  case  of  war.  In  place  of  the  bands 
which  they  used  to  hire  only  during  a  time  of  war, 
each  state  supported  a  permanent  army,  formed  of 
regiments  which  kept  their  organization  in  time  of 
peace.  This  army  was  the  property  of  the  prince;  he 
not  only  appointed  the  colonel,  but  all  the  other  officers ; 
the  soldiers  were  enlisted  especially  for  his  service, 
and  wore  his  uniform.  (In  France  the  uniform  was 
introduced  by  Louvois. )  There  was  a  regular  organi- 
zation, each  regiment  was  divided  into  a  fixed  number 
of  companies,  and  each  company  had  to  have  a  fixed 
number  of  men. 

Recruitment. — The  army  was  composed  of  soldiers, 
who  enlisted  voluntarily,  but  as  the  armies  increased 
in  size  and  number  recruiting  became  more  difficult. 
Each  government  had  special  officers,  the  recruiting- 
sergeants,  who  went  about  looking  for  vigorous  young 
men,  persuading  them  to  enlist.  These  sergeants  were 
sent  into  the  towns  of  the  country,  and  even  to  foreign 
countries,  to  the  petty  states  where  there  were  no  stand- 
ing armies.  In  order  to  procure  the  men  the  recruiting 
officers  often  employed  trickery ;  they  staid  at  a  tavern, 


INTERNATIONAL    RELATIONS  377 

invited  the  young  men  to  come  and  drink  with  them, 
boasted  of  the  advantages  of  a  soldier's  profession, 
made  them  drunk,  and  forced  them  to  accept  a  small 
sum  of  money,  which  was  the  earnest  money  of  the 
bargain ;  from  the  moment  that  a  man  had  accepted  the 
king's  money  he  was  enrolled  and  could  not  withdraw. 

The  soldiers  led  a  miserable  life;  they  were  badly 
lodged,  badly  fed  and  badly  treated.  The  officers  al- 
ways carried  a  cane  in  order  to  be  able  to  strike  a 
soldier  during  the  drill ;  a  good,  sound  beating  was 
the  usual  punishment.  The  soldier  did  not  receive 
sufficient  pay  to  support  himself  and  his  family ;  it  was 
necessary  for  him  to  have  some  supplementary  business 
in  the  town,  such  as  laborer,  street  porter  or  messen- 
ger. There  was,  besides,  no  hope  of  advancement,  for 
the  officers  were  nobles  or  wealthy  bourgeois ;  the  only 
prospect  for  an  old  or  an  infirm  soldier  was  to  beg 
for  his  daily  bread ;  the  government  gave  no  retiring 
pension.  The  construction  of  the  Invalides  was  re- 
garded as  an  act  of  generosity  on  the  part  of  Louis 
XIV. 

With  such  a  system  many  soldiers  were  tempted  to 
desert.  In  Prussia,  surveillance  and  severe  punishment 
were  necessary  in  order  to  keep  them.  As  soon  as  a  de- 
sertion was  noted  a  cannon  was  fired,  and  guards  met 
to  go  in  pursuit.  If  the  deserter  was  taken  he  was  made 
to  pass  between  two  lines  of  soldiers,  each  one  armed 
with  a  stick,  with  which  they  gave  him  a  blow  as  he 
passed ;  the  blood  flowed  in  streams  and  the  skin  fell 
in  strips ;  at  the  third  offence  the  deserter  was  ltung. 
This  profession  was  in  little  demand ;  the  army  found 
its  recruits  chiefly  among  vagabonds;  it  was  a  disgrace 


378  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

to  be  a  soldier ;  sometimes  a  gentleman  was  condemned 
to  serve  as  a  soldier,1  in  punishment  for  a  crime. 

Soon  the  governments  could  not  find  enough  men 
to  recruit  the  armies.  From  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century  they  tried  to  procure  them,  as  they  procured 
their  money,  by  compulsory  levies.  The  King  of  Swe- 
den, Gustavus  Adolphus,  had  already  imposed  upon 
his  subjects  the  obligation  to  serve  in  his  army.  Sev- 
eral states  organized  a  compulsory  service  in  the  eigh- 
teenth century.  Louis  XIV.,  near  the  end  of  his  reign, 
created  a  militia  service,  which  was  continued  down  to 
the  Revolution;  every  year,  in  each  parish,  they  drew 
lots  as  to  who  should  go  into  the  army,  but  it  was 
only  the  poor  people  who  drew;  the  bourgeois,  their 
domestics  and  the  rich  peasants  were  exempt. 

The  Armament. — At  the  time  of  the  Thirty  Years' 
War  there  still  remained  in  the  armies  bodies  of 
mounted  men  clothed  in  iron  armor  and  carrying 
lances,  just  as  in  the  Middle  Ages;  these  men  at  arms 
had  fought  at  Rocroy.  But  the  cavalry  was  composed 
of  an  entirely  new  body;  the  cuirassiers,  who  still 
wore  the  cuirass;  the  carbineers;  the  dragoons,  who 
were  only  foot  soldiers  mounted  on  horseback;  the 
hussars,  dressed  in  Turkish  fashion  and  mounted  on 
swift  horses.  Their  arms  were  a  sword  and  firearms, 
especially  the  long  pistol,  which  has  retained  the  name 
of  cavalry  pistol.  After  the  Thirty  Years'  War  the 
corps  clothed  in  full  armor  were  abandoned. 

Neither  did  the  old  infantry  survive  this  war.  The 
corps  of  foot  soldiers  was  composed  of  two  kinds  of 

1  Such  was  still  only  a  few  years  ago  the  organization,  dis- 
cipline and  kind  of  life  in  the  armies  of  Russia. 


INTERNATIONAL    RELATIONS  379 

men,  the  pikemen,  armed  like  the  former  lansquenet, 
with  a  long  pike ;  the  musketeers,  armed  with  a  sword 
and  a  musket.  The  very  heavy  musket  was  lighted 
with  tinder;  a  forked  rest  was  necessary  to  support  it 
while  one  took  aim,  and  a  fuse  had  to  be  lighted  in 
order  to  make  it  go  off.  After  the  musketeer  had 
fired  he  was  disarmed,  and  had  to  seek  shelter  behind 
the  pikemen. 

During  the  Thirty  Years'  War  they  did  away 
with  the  forked  rest,  and  replaced  the  tinder  with 
flint.  Then  was  invented  the  bayonet,  which  fastened 
into  the  gun-barrel  and  served  as  a  pike.  The  soldier 
armed  with  the  gun  and  bayonet  could  fight  at  long 
range  or  in  close  quarters  without  being  disarmed. 
The  pikemen  became  useless,  and  were  abandoned ; 
all  foot  soldiers  were  armed  in  the  same  way.  Picked 
soldiers  carried  grenades,  which  they  threw,  with  the 
fuse  lighted,  into  the  ranks  of  the  enemy ;  these  grena- 
diers marched  with  the  infantry.  The  bayonet  fast- 
ened inside  of  the  gun-barrel  had  still  the  defect  of 
taking  too  much  time,  and  of  preventing  the  bearer 
from  shooting.  At  the  battle  of  Killicrankie  (1688), 
the  English  soldiers,  after  they  had  fired,  were  adjust- 
ing their  bayonets  when  the  Scotch  Highlanders  rushed 
upon  them,  and  put  them  to  rout  before  they  had 
finished  the  operation.  At  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century  this  defect  was  remedied  by  the  invention  of  a 
bayonet  with  a  socket,  which  is  fixed  around  the  barrel 
of  the  gun. 

The  cavalry,  which  had  been  more  rapidly  perfected, 
had  the  advantage  during  the  whole  of  the  seventeenth 
century ;  it  was  the  cavalry  which  decided  almost  all 


380  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

the  battles  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War;  again  in  1692 
at  Steinkirk,  it  was  the  cavalry  of  the  king's  own 
which  put  the  enemy  to  flight.  It  was  then  admitted 
that  in  the  open  country  a  corps  of  infantry  could  not 
withstand  a  body  of  cavalry. 

The  Fortifications — The  artillery  was  changed  also. 
In  place  of  long,  irregular  pieces,  they  had  cannon 
of  a  regular  calibre,  which  threw  iron  balls.  Toward 
the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  howitzers  and  mor- 
tars for  throwing  bombs  were  invented.  They  began 
to  support  a  special  personnel  of  artillery  to  man  these 
weapons ;  in  France  this  was  the  Royal  Artillery  regi- 
ment. 

In  order  to  be  able  to  resist  the  artillery  the  whole 
system  of  fortifications  had  to  be  changed.  The  high 
stone  walls  served  as  a  target  for  the  artillery,  which 
demolished  them  piece  by  piece,  and  the  higher  they 
were  the  more  easily  was  this  done.  The  dominant  for- 
tifications were  given  up  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
and  an  entirely  opposite  system  was  adopted.  Instead 
of  raising  a  rampart  they  tried  to  conceal  it  in  such  a 
manner  that  it  would  be  difficult  for  the  cannon  balls  to 
reach  it.  A  low  and  thick  rampart  was  built,  and  this 
was  covered  by  a  ridge  of  earth,  on  top  of  which  was 
a  layer  of  thick  turf,  the  "scarp"  or  "escarp,"  into 
which  the  balls  plunged  without  destroying  anything. 
The  rampart  was  surrounded  by  a  moat,  but  this  moat 
is  no  longer  beneath  at  the  foot  of  the  wall,  as  in  the  an- 
cient fortified  chateaux ;  it  is  on  the  same  level,  formed 
by  one  side  of  the  rampart  itself,  and  the  bank  or 
talus  of  the  same  height  which  forms  the  other  side 
is  called  the  "counterscarp,"  and  slopes  away  so  gently 


INTERNATIONAL    RELATIONS  381 

to  the  surrounding  country  that  it  conceals  the  ram- 
part. The  enemy  perceived  only  the  line  of  the  coun- 
terscarp, and  behind  it  the  bank  of  earth  which  is  the 
scarp,  while  they  were  themselves  exposed  to  the  shots 
from  the  cannon  in  the  place  sheltered  by  the  talus. 
The  towers  at  the  corners  of  the  town  were  also 
replaced  by  bastions,  which  were  also  concealed  by 
earthworks.  Such  was  the  system  of  razed  fortifica- 
tions which  Vauban  applied  to  all  the  fortified  places 
in  France. 

Against  this  new  method  of  defence  a  new  mode  of 
attack  was  contrived.  The  besiegers  dug  long  and 
deep  ditches,  the  trenches,  and  made  their  advance 
under  cover  until  near  enough  to  make  an  assault  on 
the  rampart.  During  this  time  they  threw  bombs  into 
the  town,  setting  on  fire  the  houses,  arsenals  and  bar- 
racks, obliging  the  garrison  to  take  refuge  in  the  case- 
mates, which  were  under  the  rampart. 

The  War. — The  operations  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War 
were  all  carried  on  with  small  armies;  Tilly  said  that 
an  army  should  not  exceed  40,000  men.  But  a  corps 
of  40,000  men  represented  more  than  100,000  per- 
sons. As  there  were  neither  supply  stores  nor  ambu- 
lances, the  soldiers  carried  along  with  them  women, 
children,  servants  and  carts  for  their  utensils  and  their 
booty.  As  soon  as  the  governments  took  it  upon  them- 
selves to  provide  for  the  needs  of  soldiers  on  a  cam- 
paign, the  army  train  was  reduced,  but  it  has  been 
impossible  to  suppress  it  entirely. 

The  army  did  not  go  on  a  campaign  until  the  spring 
months ;  it  was  necessary  to  have  green  grain,  and 
meadows  with  sufficient  growth  to   feed  the  horses. 


382  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

The  object  of  the  campaign  was  usually  to  seize  the 
fortified  places;  the  army  went  off  to  camp  before  a 
place,  and  opened  trenches  there.  Almost  all  the  wars 
of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  were  sieges;  they  did  not 
give  battle  save  for  the  relief  of  a  besieged  place,  or 
to  repulse  the  army  sent  to  aid  in  its  defence. 

Grand  invasions  were  rare;  almost  always  war  was 
confined  to  frontier  provinces.  Therefore  it  was  rarely 
decisive. 

Operations  ceased  at  the  end  of  autumn,  the  cam- 
paign ended,  the  soldiers  constructed  barracks,  where 
they  passed  the  winter;  this  was  called  going  into 
winter  quarters.  A  war  rarely  ended  with  one  cam- 
paign; it  usually  lasted  several  years,  until  one  of  the 
powers  ran  short  of  money. 

The  Rights  of  War — The  armies  fought  for  the 
sake  of  the  profession  and  without  national  hatred. 
The  officers  of  one  camp  were  treated  by  those  of 
the  others  with  the  respect  that  gentlemen  owe  to 
each  other ;  often  they  were  acquainted  and  visited  each 
other.  In  times  of  peace  the  soldiers  looked  upon  each 
other  as  brothers  in  arms,  who  were  doing  their  duty 
in  the  service  of  different  masters.  The  prisoners  were 
honorably  treated  and  were  often  released  on  parole. 
During  the  Thirty  Years'  War  the  old  custom  of  de- 
manding a  ransom  for  prisoners  was  still  observed. 
In  the  eighteenth  century  the  government  took  upon 
itself  the  burden  of  redeeming  the  prisoners  or  of 
exchanging  them. 

But  the  usages  of  war  were  still  severe  for  the 
people  of  the  countries  which  were  invaded.  The 
right  to  defend  their  own  village  was  not  recognized, 


INTERNATIONAL   RELATIONS  383 

neither  dare  they  commit  any  hostile  act,  for  which 
the  punishment  was  death.  When  Louis  XIV.  entered 
Holland  he  issued  this  proclamation:  "Those  who  do 
not  wish  to  submit,  and  who  may  attempt  resistance  to 
His  Majesty's  forces  by  cutting  their  dikes,  will  be 
punished  with  the  utmost  severity."  At  Crequy,  Lou- 
vois  wrote :  "His  Majesty,  having  considered  that  the 
places  belonging  to  M.  de  Lorraine  are  inadequately 
provisioned,  that  they  cannot  hope  for  any  succor  and 
that,  therefore,  it  is  a  temerity  in  those  who  are  defend- 
ing them  which  merits  exemplary  punishment,  His 
Majesty  has  resolved  that  all  the  knights,  soldiers, 
militia  and  people  of  Lorraine  who  shall  have  con- 
tributed to  the  defence  of  the  place,  shall  be  sent  to  the 
galleys,  unless  they  redeem  themselves  at  ioo  ecus 
each."  In  1744  the  Austrian  generals  who  invaded 
Alsace  declared  that  if  the  inhabitants  resisted  they 
would  be  hung,  "after  being  forced  to  cut  off  their 
own  noses  and  ears." 

It  was  admitted  that  when  a  place  was  taken  by 
assault  it  belonged  to  the  soldiers,  and  they  were  free 
to  pillage  and  massacre  at  will.  It  was  admitted  that 
the  enemy  had  the  right  to  live  at  the  expense  of  the 
country  invaded.  The  government  did  not  furnish 
food  nor  forage  for  its  troops ;  they  went  foraging 
themselves,  and  made  requisitions  for  their  supplies. 
Often  they  levied  contributions  on  the  bourgeois ;  this 
was  a  resource  upon  which  they  counted,  and  they 
called  it  the  "necessaries  of  war."  If  the  inhabitants 
did  not  deliever  what  was  exacted  from  them  their 
homes  were  burned  over  their  heads.  Marshal  de 
Luxembourg  wrote  in  1672:  "Never  have  attacks  of 


384  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

fever  been  as  regular  as  our  custom  of  burning  out 
every  two  days  those  who  are  fools  enough  to  oblige 
us  to  do  it."  That  was  almost  a  recognized  law. 
When  Turenne  began  to  burn  the  villages  of  the 
Palatinate,  this  prince  wrote  to  him :  "It  seems  to  me 
that  in  a  strict  sense  we  are  only  burning  the  places 
which  refused  to  make  the  contributions  demanded." 
Louvois  went  still  farther;  he  ordered  the  devastation 
of  all  the  states  of  the  Elector  Palatine,  although 
Louis  XIV.  was  not  at  war  with  him,  so  that  the  enemy 
could  not  find  anything  there  to  live  upon.  An  order 
was  given  to  the  inhabitants  to  evacuate  their  houses ; 
500,000  persons  found  themselves  without  resources; 
all  the  towns  and  villages  were  burned,  the  country 
was  ravaged  and  the  castle  of  Heidelberg  was  mined 
and  blown  up. 

In  view  of  the  principles  avowed  by  the  govern- 
ments it  is  easy  to  imagine  what  the  soldiers  were  ac- 
customed to  do.  The  undisciplined  armies  were  full  of 
marauders  who  scattered  through  the  country  for  the 
purpose  of  pillage.  Sometimes  an  example  was  made 
of  them,  a  band  was  captured  and  they  were  hung  on 
trees  (it  was  a  soldier's  privilege  to  be  hung  only  on 
a  tree,  or  on  a  military  gibbet). 

But  rarely  did  the  inhabitant  succeed  in  obtaining 
justice ;  the  chiefs  did  not  like  to  take  the  part  of  a 
stranger  against  one  of  their  own  soldiers.  The  most 
popular  generals,  Wallenstein,  Turenne  (the  father 
of  his  soldiers),  were  very  hard  on  the  people.  The 
soldiers  knew  that  they  could  indulge  in  every  liberty. 
Not  content  with  pillaging  they  often  tortured  simply 
for  their  own  amusement. 


INTERNATIONAL    RELATIONS  385 

The  bands  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War  surpassed  the 
"Ecorcheurs" ;  the  Hungarians  commanded  by  Dam- 
pierre  cut  off  the  hands  of  children  and  fastened  them 
to  their  hats ;  Mansfeld's  soldiers  threw  the  peasants 
into  the  fire;  Tilly's  troops  cut  off  the  breasts  of  the 
women,  and  the  arms,  legs,  noses  and  ears  of  the 
Protestant  pastors ;  the  Croatians  had  their  prisoners 
devoured  by  dogs,  used  them  for  targets  or  poured 
melted  lead  into  their  mouths. 

By  the  end  of  the  war  the  greater  number  of  the 
peasants  were  dead,  from  massacre  or  from  suffering 
in  the  woods ;  all  the  villages  had  been  burned ;  four- 
fifths  of  the  population  of  Germany  had  perished. 
There  were  in  1618,  before  the  war,  as  many  inhabi- 
tants and  as  many  head  of  cattle  as  there  were  in  1848 ; 
it  took  more  than  two  centuries  to  repair  the  disasters 
of  that  war  in  Germany. 

Maritime  Wars. — The  marine  service  had  made 
great  progress.  On  the  Mediterranean  they  still  em- 
ployed galleys,  swift-moving  boats  manned  by  oars- 
men. In  the  Middle  Ages  these  oarsmen  were  chiefly 
Turkish  slaves ;  in  the  seventeenth  century  they  were 
chiefly  convicts,  and  were  fastened  to  their  seats.  The 
convict-keeper,  whip  in  hand,  watched  over  them.  In 
order  to  make  up  the  complement  of  the  crews  the 
government  of  Louis  XIV.  often  sent  to  them  smug- 
glers, contraband  salt-makers,  Protestants,  and  even 
beggars.  More  than  once  he  advised  the  judges  to 
condemn  as  many  as  possible  to  the  galleys. 

On  the  ocean,  where  ships  were  moved  by  sails,  the 
Dutch  began  to  use  vessels  with  several  decks,  square 
sails  and  armed  with  cannon.     From  the  middle  of 


386  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

the  seventeenth  century  France  and  England  have  each 
supported  a  large  war  fleet.  In  order  to  recruit  the 
crews  Colbert  had  organized  the  maritime  inscription 
in  France,  that  is  to  say,  an  obligatory  service  for  all 
sailors  along  the  coast.  England  depended  on  volun- 
tary enlistment ;  but  when  the  number  was  not  sufficient 
the  ports  were  closed,  and  all  the  merchant-sailors  that 
could  be  seized  were  forced  to  enlist;  this  was  called 
pressing  into  service;  this  custom  continued  until  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Maritime  war  was  not  merely  a  conflict  between  two 
war  fleets.  It  was  admitted  that  a  warship  had  the 
right  to  capture  even  the  merchantmen  of  the  hostile 
nation ;  the  cargo  was  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  state. 
The  government  authorized  private  individuals  to  arm 
and  man  a  ship  in  order  to  pursue  the  merchantmen 
of  the  enemy;  this  was  called  "to  fit  out  a  privateer." 
The  corsairs  were  given  letters  of  marque  or  commis- 
sions, and  could  take  prizes  on  their  own  account 
without  being  regarded  as  pirates.  The  profession  of 
corsair  was  considered  honorable;  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  French  sailors,  Jean  Bart,  had  made  his 
reputation  when  he  was  a  corsair.  The  ship-owners  of 
Dunkirk  and  Saint-Malo  had  grown  rich  by  following 
the  English  ships  and  seizing  them ;  in  nine  years  the 
corsairs  of  Saint-Malo  captured  260  war  vessels  and 
3,480  merchantmen. 


CHAPTER   XXV 

FORMATION    OF    THE    ENGLISH    CONSTITUTION 
IN    THE    SEVENTEENTH    AND    EIGH- 
TEENTH CENTURIES 

REVOLUTIONS   OF   THE    SEVENTEENTH 
CENTURY 

The  English  Parliament The  kings  of   England 

had  become  accustomed  to  the  idea  that  they  ought 
not  to  levy  taxes  upon  their  subjects  before  they  had 
obtained  the  consent  of  the  Parliament.  Parliament, 
from  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  had  been 
divided  into  two  chambers.  The  House  of  Lords,  or 
Upper  Chamber,  was  composed  of  bishops  and  lords, 
to  whom  the  king  had  sent  a  personal  letter  of  convoca- 
tion; the  king  had  the  right  to  convene,  and  conse- 
quently to  make  any  man  whom  he  wished  a  member 
of  the  House  of  Lords,  but  whoever  had  sat  as  a  lord 
had  henceforth  the  right  to  be  always  called  upon,  and 
this  right  was  transmitted  from  eldest  son  to  eldest  son. 
The  House  of  Commons,  or  Lower  Chamber,  was 
composed  of  three  kinds  of  deputies,  some  chosen  by 
the  assembled  property  owners  of  a  county,  others 
chosen  by  the  citizens  of  the  towns  of  the  kingdom,  or 
by  the  inhabitants  of  certain  boroughs,  where  existed 
the  right  of  election.  The  two  chambers  deliberated 
and  voted  separately,  but  both  sat  in  the  same  city, 
usually  at  Westminster,  where  the  king  lived. 

387 


3>S  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

The  session  continued  at  the  pleasure  of  the  king; 
it  is  still  a  principle  in  England  that  the  king  has  the 
right  to  dissolve  Parliament.     But  the  custom  was  to 

hold  a  session  each  year:  only,  during  the  civil  wars. 
did  rive  years  pass  by  ^1477-83)  without  the  convoca- 
tion oi  the  Parliament. 

In  fact,  the  kings  of  England  had  almost  as  much 
power  as  the  kings  of  France.     In  the  sixteenth  cen- 
they  : :  uld  change  the  religion  of  the  country,  reor- 
ganize the  church,  arrest,  put  to  torture,  and  condemn 
to  death  thousands  of  persons,  and  the  greatest  per- 
~es   of  the  kingdom,  without  meeting  resistance 
from  any  one.     But  when  Henry  VIII.  decreed  the 
levy  of  a  tax  without  asking  permission  from  Parlia- 
ment,  the  people  rebelled  and  nearly  massacred  the 
commissi  :r.ers:    the  king   withdrew   his   orders,    par- 
i  the  insurgents  and  publicly  expressed  his  re- 
3.     Queen  Elizabeth  was  obeyed  during  her  whole 
id  yet  in  1 60 1.  when  the  House  of  Commons 
r  tested  E^iirtst  the  monopolies,  which  she  had  just 
established,  the  queen  thanked  the  Commons  and  re- 
he  monopolies. 
Absolute  Monarchy  in  England — The  family  of  the 
Tudors  became  extinct  in    1603.   and  James   Stuart. 
_    ::    Scotland,   became   King  of   England.     The 
Stuarts  had  the  same  iieas  concerning  royal  authority 
ere  held  by  the   3ther  princes  of  the  seventeenth 
tentury.     Tames  wrote  a  book  in  which  he  set  forth 
the  the —  jf  the   h  ir.-r  rirht  of  kings.     God  himself, 
said  he.   has   instituted  the  hereditary  monarchy:  He 
has  tharged  the  kings  to  govern  in  His  place,  and  has 
given  tc  them  absolute  power.    The  king  can  do  what- 


FORMATION"   OF   ENGLISH  CONSTITUTION"     *«9 

ever  he  deems  best,  and  even  if  he  has  made  promises 

to  his  subjects,  he  has  a  perfect  right  not  to  keep  tl 
promises :  for  there  lan  be  no  contract  between  a  king 
and  -/.  which  at  mat  time  was 

everywhere   a  in    Z.-  :t    the    Zr.rhrh    i.ir.i 

quite  opt        !    tc    their    ancient    nistoms,    Lr. :   :: 
Magna  Charts.     They  a  it  they 

:r     ath    >f  fide 
regarded  the  prcrr.ires  made         I  og  as  a  pk 

-.In   spite    ::    his    theory,   James 
ged    tc     :   :v  ene    J  arliamei      •      that    he 
have    some    money,    and    Parliament    never    failed, 
bei  re   voting   the    tax,    ::    make    i    remonstrance  I 
the    king   because    ::'    his    bad    admin  Btrarion.      and 
because  he  left   -  -.:  in   the   hands 

fav : : 

Lrles  I.  trie  I  tc   jbtain.  in  the  first  place,  subs: 
frit,  the  Parhsjttettt.     H  even  tc    accept  the 

ya    ::   Rights,  when  he  renewed  the  pledges    ::' 
the  Magna    1  le  promised  not  ::   lexy  any 

;  the   tonsent   ::  Parliament,  not  ::   arrest  any 
ne      ithout  iue  process   ::  law.  :    :  :     establish  mili- 

rem  mstrarj  :t     he   re- ".   ed  :t :    .  :~.zi~   to  c  t  the 

Parliament,   but   :•:    govern   after   the   manner    :f  the 

_-   ::t   the    ither    rruntries.     H:f   favrrtte. 


390  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

had  at  his  disposal  the  revenue  from  three  large  do- 
mains. He  rilled  all  the  offices  at  court,  in  the  govern- 
ment, in  the  church,  in  the  army,  with  his  favorites. 
The  judges  appointed  by  him  were  quite  disposed  to 
pronounce  against  the  adversaries  of  the  royal  power, 
and  when  he  did  not  feel  sure  of  the  ordinary  judges,  he 
sent  the  case  before  two  extraordinary  tribunals,  the 
Star  Chamber,  which  adjudicated  political  crimes,  the 
High  Commission  Court,  which  decided  upon  reli- 
gious offenses.  The  nation  had  no  means  of  oppos- 
ing the  royal  power  save  by  remonstrance  of  the 
Parliament.  But  the  Parliament  could  not  assemble 
unless  convoked  by  the  king.  Not  to  convoke  it  was 
thus  all-sufficient.  The  king  did  not  need  the  services 
of  that  body  except  for  the  purpose  of  making  new 
laws,  or  of  fixing  an  impost;  the  policy  of  Charles  I. 
was  to  do  without  taxes,  so  that  there  should  not  be 
any  excuse  for  the  convocation  of  Parliament.  The 
only  thing  that  was  wanting  to  complete  the  absolute 
authority  of  the  king  was  a  standing  army,  and  his 
revenues  were  insufficient  to  support  such  an  army. 
In  order  to  procure  money,  he  determined  to  re-estab- 
lish the  old  tax  on  vessels,  which  formerly  had  been 
levied  on  the  coast  counties  in  time  of  war.  To 
restore  it,  without  an  act  of  Parliament,  to  exact  it 
in  time  of  peace,  and  throughout  the  country,  was 
obviously  contrary  to  the  custom.  A  large  land-owner, 
Hampden,  dared  to  refuse,  and  let  himself  be  prose- 
cuted. The  judges  decided  that  he  was  in  the  wrong, 
and  the  tax  was  levied  without  further  resistance. 
The  English  were  indignant  with  Charles  I.,  and 
thought  that  in  violating  the  custom  he  had  failed  in 


FORMATION    OF   ENGLISH   CONSTITUTION     391 

his  duty.  But  they  still  respected  their  king  too  much 
to  offer  resistance  by  force.  Charles  troubled  himself 
very  little  about  the  opinion  of  his  subjects,  and  force 
alone  could  stop  him. 

Religious  Persecution. — Perhaps  the  king  would, 
notwithstanding  the  custom,  have  succeeded  in  making 
himself  as  absolute  as  Louis  XIV.  if  he  had  only 
attacked  the  political  rights  of  his  subjects.  But  he 
found  it  more  difficult  to  break  up  an  opposition  in 
regard  to  religion.  The  King  of  England  was  head 
of  Church  and  State ;  the  Anglican  religion  was  oblig- 
atory on  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  kingdom ;  he  had  to 
impose  it  on  his  subjects.  Anglicanism  was  repugnant 
to  many  Englishmen ;  the  authority  of  the  bishops  and 
the  existing  ceremonies  seemed  to  them  only  a  residue 
of  the  Catholic  religion,  which  they  held  in  horror.  A 
group  of  dissenters  was  formed,  which  separated  from 
the  official  church.  They  were  called  Puritans,  be- 
cause they  desired  to  purify  the  religion,  and  under 
this  name  were  gathered  sects  of  varied  faith  (Presby- 
terians, Independents,  Baptists,  Quakers).  The  Angli- 
can church  persecuted  the  dissenters ;  it  wanted  to 
force  them  to  follow  the  example  of  the  other  believ- 
ers, to  make  the  sign  of  the  cross,  to  kneel  at  com- 
munion, to  use  the  liturgical  prayer-book  (the  book 
of  Common  Prayer)  ;  but  their  consciences  revolted  at 
these  customs,  which  they  called  marks  of  idolatry, 
and  they  would  not  go  to  church.  The  Puritan  pastors 
disliked  the  ecclesiastical  costume  (the  white  surplice 
and  the  square  caps).  In  1570,  a  pastor  said  before 
his  judges :  "I  can  never  consent  to  wear  this  surplice ; 
it  is  contrary  to  my  conscience.     I  hope,  with  the  aid 


392  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

of  God,  that  I  shall  never  put  on  that  sleeve,  which  is 
a  mark  of  the  beast."  Those  who  refused  through 
scruples  of  conscience  to  conform  to  Anglican  usage 
were  called  non-conformists.  They  were  removed 
from  the  civil  offices,  they  were  obliged  to  pay  fines, 
and  if  they  spoke  against  the  established  church  they 
were  condemned  to  prison  or  to  the  pillory,  and  had 
their  ears  and  hands  cut  off.  Dr.  Leighton,  after 
spending  fifteen  weeks  in  irons,  in  a  dog-kennel,  with- 
out bed  or  fire,  was  put  into  the  pillory,  during  in- 
tensely cold  weather,  then  whipped,  branded  on  the 
forehead,  his  nose  and  ears  cut  off,  and  then  he  was 
shut  up  in  the  prison  for  criminals. 

The  Puritans  pardoned  Queen  Elizabeth  for  perse- 
cuting them,  because  she  opposed  the  Catholics.  A 
Puritan,  who  had  just  had  his  right  hand  cut  off  by 
the  executioner,  threw  his  hat  in  the  air  with  the  left 
hand,  crying:  "Long  live  the  Queen!" 

Under  Charles  I.  the  persecution  became  more  sys- 
tematic. Prynne,  a  reputable  man,  had  his  ears  cut 
off  and  was  exposed  in  the  pillory  for  having  written 
against  the  church.  Archbishop  Laud  succeeded  in 
crushing  out  the  Puritans  in  England,  so  that  in  1638 
no  one  dared  acknowledge  himself  a  dissenter.  Then 
he  ordered  the  Scotch  to  adopt  in  their  turn  the  Angli- 
can ritual.  But  while  in  England  the  Puritans  were 
but  a  minority,  in  Scotland  almost  the  whole  nation 
was  Presbyterian.  A  league  was  formed  in  order  to 
repel,  by  force,  the  innovations  which  the  king  wanted 
to  impose  on  Scotland.  All  the  Scotch,  through  hor- 
ror of  the  Anglican  church,  declared  solemnly  for  the 
Covenant,  that  is,   for  the  agreement  to  maintain  a 


FORMATION   OF   ENGLISH  CONSTITUTION     393 

national  church.     Thus  began  the  revolt  against  the 
king.     It  was  a  religious  uprising. 

The  Revolution  of  1648 — The  king  needed  an  army 
to  conquer  the  rebellious  Scotch ;  therefore  he  decided 
to  demand  money  from  the  Parliament  (1639).  The 
Parliament,  quite  disposed  to  grant  the  demands  of 
the  king,  displeased  him  by  its  remonstrances.  He 
dissolved  Parliament,  but  was  soon  obliged  to  con- 
voke another.  This  time  there  was  a  small  majority 
of  Presbyterians  in  the  House  of  Commons;  Charles 
I.  strengthened  the  party  of  the  opposition  by  going 
with  an  armed  force  into  the  chamber,  in  order  to 
arrest  some  of  the  members.  The  people  revolted ;  the 
king  left  London,  and  placed  himself  at  the  head 
of  an  army  so  as  to  come  back  through  force.  All 
England  was  divided  into  two  camps ;  on  the  side  of 
the  king  were  the  noblemen,  the  clergy,  and  almost  all 
the  inhabitants  of  the  North  and  West ;  on  the  side  of 
Parliament  were  the  Puritans,  the  citizens  of  the 
towns,  the  farmers,  and  the  small  proprietors  (yeo- 
men) of  the  south-east.  The  royalists  called  them- 
selves "Cavaliers,"  and  they  called  their  adversaries 
the  "Round-Heads"  (because  they  wore  the  hair  cut 
short).  The  Parliament  had  only  a  miserable  army, 
composed  of  mercenaries ;  the  Cavaliers,  more  accus- 
tomed to  the  use  of  arms,  were  at  first  victorious. 
It  was  again  a  religious  movement  that  gave  the 
victory  to  the  Parliament;  Cromwell  formed  the  Puri- 
tan yeomen  into  regiments  of  cavalry,  which  were 
able  to  resist  the  army  of  royalist  nobles.  The 
Parliament,  victorious,  took  the  government  away 
from  the  king.     But  the  real  power  lay  in  the  Pnrjtar 


394  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

armies,  which  had  carried  off  the  victory.  It  was  the 
army  which  had  the  imprisoned  king  beheaded,  pro- 
claimed the  republic,  and  gave  the  absolute  power  to 
its  chief,  Oliver  Cromwell.  During  thirteen  years 
the  army  ruled  England.  In  its  turn  the  Anglican 
church  was  persecuted :  the  Puritans  forbade  the  read- 
ing of  the  book  of  Common  Prayer,  even  in  the  fam- 
ily, they  expelled  the  bishops,  and  ordered  the  burning 
of  all  pictures  whereon  was  found  an  image  of  Christ 
or  of  the  Virgin.  They  also  forbade  all  diversions, 
the  May-poles  were  cut  down,  dancing  was  prohibited, 
the  theatres  were  closed  and  the  actors  whipped. 

The  Restoration — The  army  ruled  only  through 
force;  almost  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  kingdom  were 
opposed  to  it.  When  Cromwell  died,  the  general  of 
the  Northern  army,  Monk,  decided  to  call  a  conven- 
tion (1660);  all  the  members  were  agreed  upon  the 
recall  of  the  legitimate  king,  Charles  II.,  son  of  Charles 
I.  He  was  recalled  without  conditions.  The  Restora- 
tion set  up  once  more  the  royal  power,  such  as  it  was 
before  the  revolution.  The  Parliament,  chosen  in 
1 66 1,  and  which  lasted  eighteen  years,  was  composed 
of  members  devoted  to  the  king;  it  voted  an  impost 
and  granted  to  Charles  the  right  of  levying  it  during 
the  whole  of  his  reign.  The  Anglican  church,  fright- 
ened by  the  troubles  of  the  revolution,  taught  hence- 
forth that  in  no  case  had  the  subjects  the  right  to  resist 
the  authority  of  the  king.  In  the  oath  of  allegiance, 
which  all  functionaries  were  obliged  to  take,  the  follow- 
ing was  inserted :  "I  declare  and  believe  that  it  is  not 
legitimate,  under  any  pretext,  to  take  arms  against  the 
king."     When  Lord  Russell  was  condemned  to  death 


FORMATION    OF   ENGLISH   CONSTITUTION     395 

for  political  causes,  the  ecclesiastics,  who  visited  him 
in  prison,  declared  to  him  that  unless  he  accepted  this 
doctrine  they  could  not  believe  in  his  repentance.  So 
the  King  of  England  found  himself  with  the  same 
power  as  formerly,  and,  more  than  that,  he  was  pro- 
vided with  a  subsidy  for  life,  and  was  sustained  by  the 
whole  church. 

Formation  of  Political  Parties Charles  II.  gov- 
erned during  eighteen  years  without  meeting  any  oppo- 
sition. But  he  was  to  have  a  successor  in  his  brother, 
James  II.,  who  was  a  Catholic.  The  English  people 
found  themselves  divided  between  their  devotion  to  the 
royal  family  and  their  horror  of  Catholicism.  Some 
of  them  wished  to  have  James  II.  excluded  from  the 
succession,  others  wished  to  respect  the  normal  order. 
The  new  Parliament,  chosen  in  1679,  was  divided 
among  the  two  parties.  Both  received  from  their  ad- 
versaries a  sobriquet  which  they  adopted :  the  partisans 
of  the  royal  family  were  called  "Tories,"  and  their 
opponents  were  the  "Whigs."1  In  this  manner  came 
into  existence  the  two  parties  into  which  the  English 
Parliament  has  been  divided  for  two  centuries.2 

The  Whig  party  was,  at  first,  in  the  minority,  and 
Charles,  supported  by  the  Tories,  was  able,  at  the  end 
of  his  reign,  to  no  longer  convene  the  Parliament,  and 
ordered  that  the  chiefs  of  the  Whig  party  be  con- 
demned to  death. 

Restoration  of  Absolute  Monarchy At  the  death  of 

Charles  II.   (16S5),  James  II.,  who  had  remained  a 

JThe  word  Tories  designated  the  Irish  Catholic  outlaws.  The 
word  Whigs,  Scotch  Puritan  rebels. 

2  Today  the  Tories  are  called  the  Conservatives,  and  the  Whigs 
the  Liberals. 


396  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

Catholic,  became  king,  without  any  opposition.  He 
believed  in  the  theory  of  the  absolute  power  of  mon- 
archs,  and  governed  accordingly.  It  was  evident, 
then,  that  the  old  institutions  of  England — the  Parlia- 
ment and  the  jury — were  not  sufficient  to  protect  the 
liberty  of  the  English  people  against  the  authority  of 
the  king.  James  convoked  Parliament,  but  his  officers 
conducted  the  elections  in  such  a  manner  that  none  but 
Tories  were  elected,  and  the  Parliament  so  chosen 
began  by  granting  to  the  king  full  power  to  levy  an 
impost  during  his  lifetime.  James  preserved  the  jury; 
but  the  judges,  who  designated  the  jurors  and  con- 
trolled them,  were  functionaries  named  by  the  king, 
and  they  took  care  to  choose  jurors  devoted  to  his 
interests,  who  were  ready  to  declare  the  accused 
guilty.  The  chief- justice,  Jeffreys,  became  celebrated 
for  the  manner  in  which  he  conducted  the  cases 
brought  before  him;  he  swore  at  the  witnesses,  to 
prevent  them  from  speaking,  insulted  the  accused  and 
threatened  the  jurors.  A  respectable  woman,  Alice 
Lisle,  was  brought  before  the  jury,  accused  of  having 
given  shelter  to  two  fugitives  from  the  king's  ven- 
geance. Jeffreys,  after  a  speech  full  of  insults  to  the 
Presbyterians,  demanded  that  she  be  found  guilty  of 
high  treason ;  the  jury  could  not  decide  upon  it ;  they 
deliberated  for  a  long  time;  Jeffreys  sent  word  to 
them  that  he  was  going  to  have  them  locked  up  for 
the  night ;  the  jury  returned  to  the  court-room  and 
declared  that  the  accusation  was,  in  their  opinion,  not 
proven.  Jeffreys  sent  them  back,  with  violent  denun- 
ciations ;  finally  the  intimidated  jurors  decided  to  re- 
turn a  verdict  in  the  affirmative.     The  next  morning 


FORMATION   OF  ENGLISH   CONSTITUTION     397 

Jeffreys  condemned  the  accused  to  be  burned  alive 
that  very  evening. 

It  was  not  the  tyranny  of  James,  but  his  measures 
in  favor  of  the  persecuted  Catholics  which  induced 
them  at  last  to  oppose  him.  In  the  Declaration  of 
Indulgence  of  1687,  James  said  that  the  conscience 
should  be  free,  that  persecutions  are  injurious  to  a 
nation ;  he  repealed  all  laws  punishing  Catholics  and 
dissenters,  and  authorized  them  to  hold  public  wor- 
ship. The  Tories,  who  were  then  dominant  in  Eng- 
land, were  very  much  attached  to  the  Anglican  church ; 
they  had  been  resigned  to  political  oppression,  but 
they  did  not  want  religious  liberty. 

Revolution  of  1688 — Many  Englishmen,  through 
hatred  of  Catholicism,  went  over  to  the  Whig  party, 
and  the  Tories  themselves  began  to  consider  resistance 
as  a  legitimate  act.  But  it  was  only  with  the  help  of 
foreigners  that  the  English  brought  about  the  revo- 
lution. They  waited  until  William,  son-in-law  of  the 
king,  had  landed  in  England,  bringing  with  him  an 
army  from  Holland,  and  until  James  himself  had 
taken  flight.  It  required  all  the  tact  of  William,  and 
all  the  blunders  of  James,  to  make  the  revolution  of 
1688  possible. 

Apparently  it  only  consisted  in  replacing  one  king 
with  another.  A  new  Parliament,  where  the  Whigs 
were  in  the  majority,  declared  that  James  had  for- 
feited his  right;  the  throne  was  vacant,  and  William 
and  Mary  should  be  King  and  Queen  of  England. 
No  new  law  was  established.  But  by  this  simple 
change  in  persons  the  Parliament  had  affirmed  the 
right  to  try  the  king  and  to  dispose  of  the  crown. 


398  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

As  the  rights  of  the  nation  did  not  seem  sufficiently 
clear  as  set  forth  in  the  ancient  charters,  the  Parlia- 
ment passed  the  Bill  of  Rights,  which  was  submitted 
to  the  king  for  his  approval.  This  bill  enumerates  all 
the  illegal  acts  of  James  II.,  and  adds :  "The  lords  and 
the  commons  assembled  having  done  what  their  an- 
cestors under  similar  circumstances  had  done  before 
them,  for  the  purpose  of  defending  and  affirming  their 
ancient  rights  and  liberties,  do  declare : 

"That  the  power  to  suspend  the  laws  by  royal 
authority,  and  without  the  consent  of  Parliament,  is 
illegal. 

"That  the  levies  of  moneys  for  the  use  of  the  crown, 
under  pretext  of  a  prerogative,  and  without  the  assent 
of  Parliament,  are  illegal. 

"That  the  subjects  have  the  right  to  petition  the 
crown  for  the  redress  of  any  grievance,  and  that  the 
prosecution  of  such  petitioners  is  illegal. 

"That  to  raise  and  support  a  permanent  army  in 
the  kingdom,  in  time  of  peace,  and  without  the  con- 
sent of  Parliament,  is  illegal. 

"That  the  election  of  members  of  Parliament  ought 
to  be  free  from  interference. 

"That  liberty  of  speech  should  not  be  restrained, 
nor  put  in  question  before  any  tribunal. 

"That  excessive  fines  should  not  be  imposed,  nor 
cruel  and  unusual  punishments  inflicted. 

"That  Parliament  should  frequently  assemble,  in 
order  to  redress  all  griefs,  to  amend,  strengthen,  and 
sanction  the  laws." 

In  signing  this  declaration,  the  King  of  England 
promises  to  respect  the  rights  therein  recorded.     This 


FORMATION   OF   ENGLISH   CONSTITUTION     399 

promise  is  not  violated.  King  and  subjects  have  be- 
come accustomed  to  regard  their  rights  and  duties  in 
a  totally  different  light.  The  king  does  not  assume 
that  he  is  invested  with  a  power  superior  to  the  will 
of  his  people;  he  knows  that  he  is  bound  to  his  sub- 
jects by  a  formal  contract;  the  subjects  have  promised 
to  obey  him  only  within  the  limits  provided  for  in 
the  contract,  and  just  as  long  as  he  himself  observes  the 
terms  of  the  contracts ;  if  he  fails  in  that  particular,  the 
subjects  are  released  from  their  promise;  if  he  would 
constrain  them,  they  have  the  right  to  resist  him  by 
force  and  to  take  another  king.  Parliament  represents 
the  nation,  and  speaks  in  its  name ;  the  king  must  take 
into  consideration  the  wishes  of  the  Parliament. 

PARLIAMENTARY    GOVERNMENT   IN    THE 
EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY 

Formation    of    Parliamentary    Government The 

kings  who  succeeded  each  other  in  England  after  the 
revolution  of  1688  found  themselves  in  a  difficult  posi- 
tion. The  Stuarts,  James  II.  and  his  descendants, 
continued  to  call  themselves  Kings  of  England  ;  a  large 
party,  composed  chiefly  of  the  Irish,  the  Scotch  High- 
landers, and  many  English  noblemen,  still  looked  upon 
them  as  the  only  legitimate  kings,  and  regarded  the 
new  kings  as  nothing  but  usurpers.  Three  times  the 
Jacobites  took  arms  to  re-establish  the  Stuarts,  1689, 
171 5,  1745.  The  kings,  in  order  to  defend  themselves 
against  the  attacks  of  the  Jacobites,  needed  the  sup- 
port of  the  Whigs,  who  controlled  Parliament;  but, 
unlike  the  Tories,  the  Whigs  had  no  personal  affec- 


400  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

tion  for  the  royal  family ;  they  only  supported  the  king 
on  condition  that  he  would  let  himself  be  guided  by 
them.  William,  who  wanted  to  pursue  an  independent 
policy,  had  a  life-long  struggle  with  Parliament.  The 
kings  of  the  House  of  Hanover  (the  Georges)  were 
not  at  all  interested  in  th£  government  of  England ; 
they  habitually  permitted  their  ministers  to  govern 
for  them.  But,  instead  of  being  able  to  choose  their 
ministers  from  their  personal  favorites,  as  did  the 
other  kings  in  Europe,  they  were  obliged  to  take  the 
most  distinguished  members  of  the  party  which  held 
the  reins  of  power  in  the  Parliament.  Henceforth, 
Parliament  had  not  only  the  right  to  determine  the 
imposts  and  to  control  the  acts  of  the  government,  but 
it  governed  itself  by  means  of  the  chiefs  of  the  major- 
ity. Thus,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  was  constituted 
a  parliamentary  government,  which  consists  in  giving 
the  power  into  the  hands  of  a  representative  assembly. 
This  system,  which  in  the  nineteenth  century  was  to 
serve  as  a  model  for  all  the  countries  of  Europe,  had 
an  unfortunate  beginning,  amid  scenes  of  violence, 
intrigue  and  disorder  in  the  finances;  England  was 
ruined  by  the  war  with  Louis  XIV.,  the  public  debt, 
which  in  1688  amounted  to  600,000  pounds  sterling, 
had  increased  to  16,000,000  in  1700,  and  to  41,000,000 
in  1714. 

The  Cabinet — In  the  government  by  Parliament  the 
king  continued  to  appoint  the  high  officers  charged 
with  guiding  the  affairs  of  State  (Chancellor,  Lord- 
treasurer,  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  President  of  the 
Council).  But  he  did  not  select  them  one  at  a  time 
and  to  suit  himself ;  the  ministers  had  to  agree  among 


FORMATION   OF   ENGLISH   CONSTITUTION     401 

themselves  concerning  the  policy  to  be  followed,  and 
also  to  agree  with  the  majority  in  the  Parliament. 
Beginning  with  1695  it  was  the  established  custom  to 
give  the  power,  not  to  individual  ministers,  each  a 
master  in  his  own  branch  of  the  service,  but  to  a  body 
whose  members  would  act  in  concert.  This  body 
keeps  the  name  of  the  Council  or  the  Cabinet,  because 
it  is  understood  to  be  the  council  gathered  in  the 
cabinet  of  the  king.  It  is  in  reality  an  entirely  new 
institution,  which  has  appeared  for  the  first  time  in 
the  history  of  the  world.  It  is  founded  upon  certain 
habits  which  usage  has  gradually  confirmed  and  which 
are  regarded  as  the  rules  of  parliamentary  life : 

1.  The  king  alone  names  the  ministers,  but  he 
yields  to  them  the  right  to  govern;  this  principle 
is  thus  formulated :  the  king  reigns  but  he  does  not 
rule. 

2.  The  king  is  no  longer  responsible  for  the  gov- 
ernment, the  ministers  alone  are  responsible,  and  to 
Parliament  only;  it  has  the  right  to  accuse  and  to 
condemn  them. 

3.  Parliament  alone  has  the  right  to  make  the  laws 
and  to  vote  the  imposts.  When  a  bill  has  been  accepted 
by  the  House  of  Lords  and  the  House  of  Commons, 
the  king  must  give  it  his  approval. 

4.  The  Cabinet  must  be  drawn  from  the  majority 
in  Parliament.  When  there  is  a  question  of  forming 
a  ministry,  the  king  calls  upon  the  leader  of  the 
majority,  names  him  President  of  the  Council,  and 
charges  him  to  himself  select  his  colleagues.  It  is  the 
president  who,  in  Parliament,  speaks  in  the  name  of 
the  whole  cabinet;  the  ministry  is  designated  by  the 


402  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

name  of  the  premier  (the  Walpole  ministry,  the  Pitt 
ministry). 

5.  The  ministry  forms  a  constituted  body;  all  meas- 
ures to  be  taken  are  discussed  in  the  council,  every 
measure  taken  by  a  minister  must  be  tacitly  approved 
by  his  colleagues.  One  minister  alone  cannot  with- 
draw ;  if  the  Parliament  votes  against  his  measure,  the 
whole  cabinet  must  retire. 

6.  The  ministers  can  remain  in  power  only  by  con- 
sent of  Parliament.  If  the  majority  in  the  House  of 
Commons  expresses  by  vote  a  want  of  confidence,  the 
ministry  must  resign,  and  the  king  must  call  upon  the 
leader  of  the  opposition  to  form  a  new  ministry. 

7.  If  the  political  policy  of  the  cabinet  is  not  in 
accord  with  that  of  the  majority,  and  if  the  ministry 
think  that  Parliament  no  longer  represents  the  opinions 
of  the  electors,  it  has  the  power  to  ask  that  the  sover- 
eign dissolve  the  Parliament,  and  order  a  new  elec- 
tion. But  if  the  new  Parliament  does  not  give  its 
support  to  the  existing  ministry,  then  the  latter  must 
go  out  of  power.  The  principle  is  that  the  ministry 
has  the  right  of  appeal  to  the  electors,  but  that  their 
will  should  be  sovereign. 

Treaties  of  Utrecht. — In  the  beginning  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  the  House  of  Austria,  which  had  threat- 
ened to  dominate  all  Europe,  had  been  stopped  in  its 
career  by  the  governments  of  France  and  Sweden ;  the 
treaties  of  Westphalia  had  sanctioned  this  defeat,  and 
had  fixed  for  some  time  the  position  of  the  different 
states  of  Europe.  But  the  victorious  King  of  France 
had  felt  that  he  was  strong  enough  to  dictate  the  laws 
for  the  other  great  powers.     The  "balance  of  power" 


FORMATION   OF   ENGLISH   CONSTITUTION     403 

was  again  threatened.  In  order  to  restore  it,  the  Euro- 
pean States  formed  a  coalition  against  Louis  XIV. 
They  began  by  being  conquered;  their  league  lacked 
the  support  of  the  most  important  of  the  great  powers, 
England.  Her  kings  were  in  the  pay  of  the  French 
king.  That  is  the  reason  why  the  decisive  event  of 
this  time  was  the  revolution  of  1688,  which  gave  the 
crown  of  England  to  William  of  Orange,  the  leader 
of  the  coalition.  England  had  money  and  a  fleet;  it 
was  England  which  rendered  certain  the  victory  of 
the  allies.  At  first  Louis  XIV.  offered  a  glorious  re- 
sistance, but  he  had  to  exhaust  the  resources  of  his 
kingdom,  and  when  the  war  began  once  more,  over 
the  Spanish  succession,  although  he  had  Spain  and 
Bavaria  on  his  side,  he  was  vanquished  by  the  English 
general  Marlborough,  and  could  not  prevent  the  inva- 
sion of  France.  He  seemed  to  be  ruined,  when  a 
change  in  the  English  ministry  brought  the  Tories 
into  power.  They  desired  peace  (1711),  hoping  thus 
to  prepare  the  way  for  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts. 
England  having  alone  been  strong  enough  to  over- 
throw the  King  of  France,  was  also  strong  enough  to 
save  him.  It  was  English  influence  that  assembled 
the  congress  at  Utrecht,  in  order  to  prepare  the  terms 
of  peace,  and  the  same  influence  dictated  the  conditions 
of  that  peace,  as  had  been  done  by  France  and  Sweden 
in  1648.  Louis  XIV.  was  only  too  glad  to  accept  the 
terms  offered  ;  they  were  much  more  favorable  than 
he  had  hoped  for.  All  the  advantages  of  the  treaties 
of  Utrecht  were  on  the  side  of  England.  The  King 
of  Spain  was  obliged  to  cede  to  England  Gibraltar, 
Minorca,  the  privilege  of  importing  negro  slaves  into 


404  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

the  Spanish  colonies,  and  of  sending  there  one  ship1 
each  year.  The  King  of  France  gave  up  all  claims  to 
Newfoundland  and  Acadia,  promised  to  expel  the 
Pretender,  and  to  destroy  the  port  of  Dunkirk,  the 
rendezvous  of  the  French  corsairs. 

England  obtained  Montferrat,  and  Sicily  for  her 
ally,  the  Duke  of  Savoy.  The  other  allies  received 
almost  nothing,  and  the  enemies  of  the  coalition  were 
treated  about  as  well  as  the  allies. 

France  preserved  all  that  she  had  acquired  under  the 
reign  of  Louis  XIV.  Philip  V.  remained  King  of 
Spain  and  kept  all  the  Spanish  colonies.  The  emperor, 
whom  the  English  had  up  to  that  time  recognized  as 
the  heir  to  all  the  possessions  of  Spain,  had  now  to 
content  himself  with  the  possessions  which  were  in 
Europe  (Belgium,  the  Milanais,  the  kingdom  of 
Naples  and  Sardinia).  He  had  to  return  all  that  he 
had  taken  from  the  Duke  of  Bavaria,  the  ally  of  Louis 
XIV.  Charles  VI.  was  indignant  and  refused  to  ac- 
cede to  the  demands  of  the  treaty.  But,  remaining 
alone  with  an  empty  treasury,  he  could  not  oppose  the 
army  of  Louis  XIV.,  which  was  invading  Germany, 
and  was  ready  to  sign  the  peace  of  Rastadt  (17 14). 

The  treaties  of  Utrecht  and  Rastadt  organized 
Europe  as  the  governments  were  to  remain  during  the 
eighteenth  century.  The  treaties  of  Westphalia,  in 
destroying  the  domination  of  the  House  of  Austria, 
had  put  in  its  place  that  of  the  King  of  France.  The 
treaties  of  Utrecht  really  established  the  balance  of 
power  in  Europe. 

1  This  ship  served  as  a  warehouse,  and  made  smuggling 
lawful. 


FORMATION    OF   ENGLISH   CONSTITUTION     405 

The  Spanish  succession,  which  was  in  dispute  be- 
tween the  families  of  Austria  and  France,  had  been 
divided  between  the  two  rivals.  The  family  of  France 
had  the  larger  part,  Spain  and  the  colonies ;  but  the 
succession  was  only  of  benefit  to  the  royal  family,  not 
to  France,  since  the  two  kingdoms  could  not  be 
united.  The  House  of  Austria  had  only  fragments  of 
the  heritage,  but  the  countries  which  she  had  received 
became  provinces  of  the  Austrian  State. 

There  was  no  longer  a  preponderant  power  in 
Europe;  there  were  three  great  powers,  each  suffi- 
ciently strong  to  preserve  the  equilibrium :  England, 
strong  through  her  wealth  and  her  marine;  France, 
whose  growth  had  been  arrested,  but  which  had  not 
been  diminished ;  Austria,  which  had  become  the 
largest  state  in  Europe  since  she  had  reconquered 
Hungary  and  obtained  the  Spanish  possessions  in  Italy 
and  in  the  Low  Countries.  Germany  and  Italy  re- 
mained divided ;  the  emperor  had  great  power  in  those 
two  countries,  but  he  was  restrained  in  Italy  by  the 
new  king  of  Sardinia,  and  in  Germany  by  the  new 
king  of  Prussia. 


CHAPTER   XXVI 
FRANCE  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH   CENTURY 

DEVELOPMENT    OF    THE    WEALTH    AND 
NATIONAL    FORCES    IN    FRANCE 

Henry  IV.  and  Sully. — France  entered  upon  the 
seventeenth  century  exhausted  by  forty  years  of  civil 
war.  The  people  were  ruined,  the  State  had  neither 
army  nor  money.  How  to  reconstitute  the  wealth  of 
the  country,  and  the  forces  of  the  State,  was  the  ques- 
tion ;  and  this  was  the  work  of  the  reign  of  Henry  IV. 
Many  councillors  assisted  the  king  in  this  work,  of 
whom  the  most  celebrated  is  Sully,1  who  took  care  to 
make  himself  known  to  posterity  by  the  part  which  he 
took  in  the  government.  In  order  to  have  a  powerful 
state  there  must  be  a  rich  people,  who  can  systematic- 
ally furnish  the  king  with  the  necessary  resources. 
The  people  were  impoverished,  because  the  soldiers 
and  the  adventurers  in  the  service  of  the  parties  had 
prevented  the  peasants  from  tilling  their  lands,  the 
artisans  from  manufacturing  their  specialties,  and  the 
merchants  from  transporting  their  merchandise.  By 
putting  an  end  to  the  war,  Henry  IV.  permitted  the 
peasants,    artisans    and    merchants    to    resume    their 

1  Near  the  close  of  his  life  (1635-38)  he  wrote,  or  had  one  of 
his  secretaries  write  Royal  Economics,  where  he  attributes  to 
himself  the  greater  part  of  the  economic  measures  of  Henry  IV. ; 
it  is  certain  that  he  has  magnified  his  role,  and  credited  himself 
with  more  influence  than  he  really  possessed. 

406 


FRANCE  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  407 

labors.  This  was  the  greatest  benefit  brought  by 
his  reign;  several  years  of  peace  were  sufficient  to 
restore  prosperity  to  the  country.  Henry  IV.  aided 
still  more  directly  by  remitting  the  taxes  which  had 
been  in  arrears  for  some  time,  and  in  making  high- 
ways which  made  possible  the  transportation  of  prod- 
uce. Sully,  chief  inspector  of  the  highways  in  France, 
was  here  the  principal  auxiliary  to  the  king. 

But  it  was  not  enough  for  Henry  IV.  to  restore  the 
country  to  the  conditions  existing  before  the  war;  he 
wanted  to  create  new  sources  of  wealth.  France  up 
to  that  time  had  been  an  agricultural  country.  It  pro- 
duced chiefly  wheat,  wine,  and  cattle.  Almost  all  the 
manufactured  products  came  from  foreign  lands,  silk 
stuffs  were  bought  in  Italy,  cloth,  laces  and  linens 
came  from  England  and  from  Belgium.  At  this 
epoch,  when  the  principal  luxury  was  that  of  clothes, 
there  went  out  of  the  country  every  year  immense 
sums  of  money  used  for  this  purpose.  Trade  was 
largely  carried  on  by  foreign  merchants.  The  king 
resolved  to  create  French  trade,  and  to  establish 
French  industries,  so  that  the  benefits,  instead  of  pass- 
ing over  to  the  foreigners,  should  remain  in  the 
country. 

This  was  the  work  of  Henry  IV.  personally.  Sully, 
brought  up  a  country  gentleman,  did  not  comprehend 
the  utility  of  industry  and  commerce.  He  said  that 
manufactures,  in  drawing  people  to  the  towns,  depopu- 
lated the  country,  and  made  a  population  unfit  to  fur- 
nish soldiers.  He  admitted  no  other  sources  of  wealth 
save  grain  and  cattle.  "Tillage  and  pasturage  are  the 
two  udders  of  the  state."     To  prevent  the  impoverish- 


408  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

ment  of  the  country  in  the  purchase  of  foreign  textiles, 
he  wanted  to  forbid  all  objects  of  luxury  and  to  pro- 
hibit the  exportation  of  gold  and  silver. 

Henry  IV.  preferred  to  follow  the  counsel  of  Olivier 
de  Serres,  and  of  de  Laffemas. 

In  order  to  found  an  industry  in  silk  goods,  he  had 
mulberry  trees  planted  in  his  gardens,  and  established 
shops  for  spinning  and  weaving,  where  Italian  work- 
men taught  the  art  to  the  French  artisans;  he  organ- 
ized a  company,  which  alone  had  the  right  to  trade  in 
silk  stuffs.  The  success  was  notable;  throughout  the 
south  of  France  mulberry  trees  were  planted,  and  the 
factories  of  Tours,  Lyons,  and  Paris  produced  suffi- 
cient silk  goods  to  supply  the  kingdom,  and  the  French 
ceased  to  import  these  goods  from  Italy. 

In  order  to  establish  a  system  of  commerce  in 
France,  Henry  IV.  asked  advice  of  the  merchants, 
whom  he  called  together  in  an  assembly  under  the  title 
of  High  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

The  French  merchants  had  complained  because  they 
could  not  send  their  merchandise  into  Spain,  on  ac- 
count of  the  high  tariff;  they  demanded  the  protection 
of  the  king  against  the  English  pirates,  who  took  pos- 
session of  the  French  ships.  Henry  IV.  obliged  the 
king  of  Spain  to  lower  the  tariffs,  and  the  king  of 
England  to  forbid  piracy  among  his  subjects.  There 
was  also  a  complaint  that  the  government  forbade  the 
sale  of  grain  outside  of  France ;  the  king,  without  es- 
tablishing freedom  of  commerce  in  grains,  permitted 
the  exportation  of  French  wheat,  at  least  in  the  years 
of  abundance. 

France,  becoming  richer,  could  furnish  more  aid  to 


FRANCE  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  409 

the  government.  Henry  IV.  had  found  the  treasury 
empty ;  the  taxes,  instead  of  entering  the  coffers  of  the 
state,  were  stopped  on  the  way,  either  by  the  gov- 
ernors of  the  provinces  or  by  business  men  charged 
with  receiving  the  taxes.  For  the  last  thirty  years  the 
government  had  been  obliged  to  borrow  in  order  to 
support  the  army.  In  1559  the  debt  amounted  to 
350,000,000  livres.1 

When  peace  was  restored,  Sully  labored  to  set  in 
order  the  finances.  He  made  no  change  in  the  ancient 
system  of  taxation.2  The  only  improvement  was  the 
surveillance  of  the  agents,  whereby  the  government  re- 
ceived all  of  the  funds  collected.  He  preserved  the 
former  division  of  the  receipts  into  ordinary  and 
extraordinary. 

The  principal  merit  was  the  diminution  of  the 
expenses.  He  succeeded  thus  in  reducing  the  debt 
from  350,000,000  to  228,000,000  livres  and  in  accu- 
mulating the  sum  of  40,000,000  livres  in  silver.  The 
government  had  saved  on  an  average  13,000,000 
livres  per  year. 

Henry  IV.  found  the  army  disorganized  from  the 
result  of  the  religious  wars.  There  was  no  infantry 
except  that  formed  by  the  foreign  mercenaries,  and 
the  cavalry  had  become  the  principal  arm  of  the  ser- 
vice. Henry  IV.  wanted  to  give  the  infantry  the 
most  responsible  role,  and  wished  to  recruit  it  from 

1  The  pound  was  worth  I  fr.  .05,  but  if  one  takes  into  ac- 
count the  difference  in  the  value  of  silver,  it  represented  almost 
five  francs. 

2  Henry  IV.  had  tried  a  new  tax  on  sales  of  goods;  the  tariff 
popularly  known  as  the  "pancart,"  one  sou  per  pound,  that  is, 
one-twentieth  of  the  value  of  the  object  sold;  this  tax  stirred  up 
several  riots  and  the  king  decided  to  abandon  it. 


410  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

among  the  French.  He  formed  regiments  which  bore 
the  names  of  the  provinces.  His  system  consisted  in 
supporting  in  times  of  peace  only  a  small,  well-paid 
army,  and  in  accumulating  his  savings  so  that  in 
case  of  war  he  could  rapidly  raise  by  a  levy  as  many 
men  as  would  be  needed  for  service.  In  1610  he  had 
an  army  of  100,000  men;  no  other  European  state 
could  put  a  like  force  in  the  field. 

Richelieu — Henry  IV.  had  amassed  a  treasure,  and 
gathered  an  army,  which  made  the  King  of  France  the 
most  powerful  sovereign  in  Europe.  He  was  begin- 
ning to  use  them  against  the  House  of  Austria  when 
he  was  assassinated.  His  sudden  death  destroyed  a 
part  of  his  work ;  Maria  de'  Medici,  who  took  the  reins 
of  government,  did  not  care  to  play  any  role  in  the 
affairs  of  Europe,  and  could  not  maintain  order  even 
in  the  kingdom.  The  army  of  Henry  IV.  was  dis- 
persed and  became  disorganized,  the  treasure  was 
wasted,  or  divided  among  the  lords,  who  threatened  to 
rise  in  revolt.  The  government,  deprived  of  every 
resource,  became  so  feeble  that  the  governors  ceased 
to  respect  and  obey  the  reigning  authority;  the  em- 
peror and  the  King  of  Spain,  relieved  from  their  fears 
of  the  power  of .  France,  could  begin  a  war  against 
Holland  and  against  the  Protestant  princes  of  Ger- 
many, a  war  whose  success  was  assured.  The  army 
of  Louis  XIII.  was  not  strong  enough  to  take  the 
town  of  Montpellier,  which  was  defended  by  the 
citizens. 

But  France  was  in  a  prosperous  condition,  and  it 
was  known  that,  if  the  finances  were  reorganized,  the 
army  would  be  in  a  position  to  sustain  a  contest  with 


FRANCE  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  411 

the  House  of  Austria.  There  was  no  lack  of  French- 
men, who  desired  that  the  king  should  become  strong 
enough  to  take  up  the  work  of  Henry  IV.,  and  it  was 
one  of  the  glories  of  Richelieu  that  he  induced  Louis 
XIII.  to  adopt  this  policy. 

As  soon  as  he  had  become  prime  minister,  Riche- 
lieu began  to  work  for  the  submission  of  the  country, 
and  to  organize  a  conflict  with  the  House  of  Austria. 
He  began  with  an  underhand  war,  by  furnishing  sub- 
sidies to  the  enemies  of  the  emperor  and  of  the  King 
of  Spain.  In  1635  he  entered  upon  an  open  war  by 
sending  French  armies  into  the  Low  Countries  and 
over  the  Rhine. 

He  was  obliged  to  have  money  for  the  army,  and 
in  order  to  carry  out  his  system  of  diplomacy.  At 
first  he  had  contemplated  many  reforms :  to  diminish 
the  imports,  to  pay  fixed  amounts  for  all  the  offices, 
so  that  the  venality  in  these  posts  could  be  suppressed. 
But  these  reforms  could  only  be  brought  about  through 
the  employment  of  all  the  resources  of  the  kingdom, 
and  by  the  entire  abandonment  of  the  war.  Richelieu 
never  hesitated ;  he  believed  that  war  was  more  nec- 
essary than  the  reforms.  In  the  Assembly  of  the 
Notables,  which  he  called  together  in  1626,  he  de- 
clared :  "It  is  impossible  to  meddle  with  the  expendi- 
tures necessary  for  the  conservation  of  the  State  (the 
expenses  of  the  army)  ;  merely  to  think  of  it  would  be 
a  crime."  "The  expenses  cannot  be  diminished ;  noth- 
ing remains  therefore  but  to  increase  the  receipts,  not 
through  new  burdens  which  the  people  cannot  carry, 
but  through  innocent  means."  Consequently,  Riche- 
lieu demanded   that   the   Assembly  should   find   some 


412  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

mode  of  procedure,  by  which  the  equilibrium  of  the 
budget  would  be  maintained,  without  increasing  the 
taxes,  and  without  selling  the  offices. 

Richelieu  could  not  himself  point  out  any  method, 
and  no  one  succeeded  in  finding  one.  However,  as  the 
expenditures  were  constantly  increasing,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  increase  the  receipts.  Then  it  was  decided  to 
return  to  the  former  methods : 

i.  The  imports  were  increased  so  that  the  villein 
tax  (taille)  mounted  from  the  sum  of  30,000,000 
livres  in  1626,  to  44,000,000  in  1643.  The  inhab- 
itants were  obliged  to  lodge,  feed,  and  equip  the  sol- 
diers. Then  this  obligation  was  replaced  by  a  tax 
(called  rations  and  subsistence),  which  amounted  to 
26,000,000  livres.  Therefore  in  1643  tne  people  were 
supporting  a  burden  of  70,000,000  livres  (which  would 
to-day  correspond  to  about  400,000,000).  Richelieu 
wanted  to  establish  an  indirect  tax,  one  sou  (cent) 
per  livre,  that  is,  one-twentieth  on  merchandise  sold, 
but  the  proposition  stirred  up  so  many  riots  that  he 
was  obliged  to  renounce  the  project. 

2.  They  began  to  create  offices  for  the  purpose  of 
sale.  In  fifteen  years  the  income  from  these  sales 
amounted  to  500,000,000  livres,  and  thousands  of  use- 
less functionaries  were  appointed,  whom  it  was  neces- 
sary to  pay  out  of  the  public  treasury. 

The  people  suffered  cruelly  from  this  system ;  there- 
fore Richelieu  became  very  unpopular  during  his  life- 
time. He  had  concentrated  all  the  resources  of  the 
country  in  order  to  make  the  State  more  powerful 
from  without,  sacrificing  the  internal  prosperity  to 
military  strength. 


FRANCE  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  413 

The  expenses  of  the  war  amounted  in  1639  to 
86,000,000  Hvres.  But  this  effort  was  not  lost.  The 
money  exacted  from  the  people  served  to  create  arm- 
ies of  more  than  100,000  men.  The  emperor  and  the 
King  of  Spain  were  decisively  vanquished,  and  France 
was  for  half  a  century  the  superior  power  of  Europe. 

Colbert. — Mazarin  completed  the  work  of  Richelieu, 
by  forcing  the  emperor  (1648)  and  the  King  of 
Spain  (1659),  to  sue  for  peace.  But  he  had  too  great 
a  need  of  money  to  be  able  to  diminish  the  taxes,  or 
to  restore  the  equilibrium  of  the  budget.  When  Louis 
XIV.  took  the  reins  of  the  government  (1661)  he 
found  the  finances  in  confusion  and  the  army  dis- 
organized. It  took  several  years  to  re-establish  order 
in  the  kingdom.  Colbert  took  charge  of  the  finances, 
and  Louvois  began  to  reorganize  the  army. 

Like  Henry  IV.  Colbert  wanted  to  enrich  the  treas- 
ury by  making  the  people  richer.  Son  of  a  cloth 
merchant,  he  was  especially  interested  in  commerce 
and  in  industry,  particularly  in  the  manufacture  of 
cloths.  Although  he  may  have  taken  some  measures 
favorable  to  agriculture,  he  labored  above  all  to 
increase  the  commerce  of  France,  and  to  develop 
manufactures.  He  thought  that  the  surest  means 
of  selling  manufactured  products  was  to  gain  the  con- 
fidence of  patrons  by  selling  none  but  well-made 
goods.  In  order  to  give  a  good  reputation  to  stuffs 
of  French  manufacture,  he  wished  that  all  manufac- 
turers should  be  obliged  to  employ  the  same  processes, 
so  that  a  buyer  might  always  be  sure  of  what  he  was 
buying.  lie  had  regulations  drawn  up,  which  pre- 
scribed the  manner  of  weaving  and  dyeing,  the  ma- 


414  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

terials  to  be  employed,  the  length  and  width  of  each 
piece  of  goods.  The  manufacturer  had  to  submit  to 
this  regulation  under  penalty  of  fine  or  confiscation. 
Colbert  even  sent  some  to  the  pillory  and  had  the 
stuffs  burned.  This  was  a  suppression  of  freedom  in 
industry. 

Colbert  thought  that  private  parties  should  not  be 
depended  upon  for  the  founding  of  new  industries  in 
France;  those  who  had  available  funds  found  it  more 
advantageous  to  buy  stocks  or  offices  than  to  risk  it 
in  the  establishment  of  a  manufactory.  To  introduce 
an  unknown  industry  into  a  country  is  a  hazardous 
operation  even  in  our  day,  and  it  was  still  more  so  at 
that  time,  when  manufacturers  were  exposed  to  annoy- 
ances of  every  description.  Colbert  believed  that  the 
aid  of  the  government  was  necessary  in  order  to 
create  industries.  He  used  his  influence,  therefore, 
either  by  giving  a  premium  to  the  private  individuals 
who  established  factories,  or  by  himself  founding  State 
manufactories.  In  this  manner  he  succeeded  in  im- 
planting in  many  French  towns  several  industries, 
which,  until  that  time,  had  been  found  only  in  Italy 
or  in  Flanders ;  the  tapestry  works  at  Beauvois  and  at 
Paris  (the  Gobelins),  the  glass  works  at  Saint  Gobain, 
the  lace  manufactures  at  Alengon  and  at  Chantilly, 
furniture  factories  at  Paris. 

The  manufacturers  of  France  could  not  make  their 
products  for  as  low  a  price  as  could  their  foreign  rivals. 
Colbert  tried  to  protect  them,  by  forcing  the  foreigners 
to  raise  their  prices.  He  increased  the  duties  collected 
at  the  customs  on  the  manufactured  products  (cloths, 
laces,  arms,  etc.),  which  entered  France.     So  the  sys- 


FRANCE  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  415 

tern  of  protection  was  organized,  which  was  to  allow 
French  industries  to  reap  a  benefit  from  labor,  even 
when  done  under  much  worse  conditions  than  were 
common  among  the  foreign  manufacturers. 

Colbert  believed  (every  one  believed  it  at  that  time) 
that  the  wealth  of  a  state  depends  on  the  quantity  of 
gold  and  silver  it  possesses,  and  that  commerce  should 
be  regulated  in  such  a  way  as  to  attract  the  most  silver 
possible  to  a  country.  "I  believe,"  he  wrote  to  the 
king,  "that  we  shall  easily  remain  in  agreement  on  this 
principle,  that  it  is  only  the  abundance  of  money  in  a 
state  which  makes  the  difference  in  its  grandeur, 
and  in  its  power.  Every  year  there  go  out  of  the 
kingdom  products  of  its  own  growth,  necessary  for 
consumption  abroad  (wines,  brandies,  fruits,  silks, 
notions,  etc.),  to  the  amount  of  from  12  to  18  millions 
livres.  These  are  the  mines  of  your  kingdom.  The 
people  of  Holland  and  other  foreigners  are  making 
perpetual  war  on  these  mines.  As  we  are  able  to 
retrench  the  gains  of  the  Hollanders  from  the  sub- 
jects of  the  king,  and  the  consumption  of  the  mer- 
chandise which  they  bring  to  us,  by  so  much  shall  we 
augment  the  amount  of  ready  money  which  must 
be  brought  into  the  kingdom."  Therefore,  Colbert 
endeavored  to  keep  foreign  merchandise  away  from 
France.  In  1664  he  had  established  a  tariff  of  the 
amount  of  duties  to  be  paid  on  all  merchandise  brought 
into  France ;  the  duties  were  still  insignificant  enough 
not  to  interfere  with  commerce.  In  1668  he  made 
out  a  new  tariff,  raising  the  duties  so  that  it  was 
almost  impossible  to  import  many  kinds  of  merchan- 
dise.    The  Hollanders  and  the  English  retaliated  by 


416  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

forbidding  the  importation  of  brandies  and  French 
wines. 

Colbert  wanted  commerce  to  be  carried  on  by 
French  merchants  and  on  French  ships.  He  gave  a 
premium  to  every  ship-owner  who  bought  a  ship,  or 
who  had  one  built.  To  keep  foreign  ships  away  from 
France,  he  declared  a  tax  of  fifty  sous  per  ton  on  every 
foreign  ship  that  entered  a  French  port. 

Colbert  would  have  liked  the  French  to  have  large 
colonies,  where  they  could  have  gone  for  the  products, 
which  they  were  obliged  to  buy  from  Holland.  He 
tried  to  establish  them  in  the  way  which  had  so  well 
succeeded  with  the  people  of  Holland.  He  formed 
two  large  commercial  companies,  one  for  the  East 
Indies,  and  the  other  for  the  West  Indies  (America). 
The  company  alone  had  the  right  to  sell  and  buy  in 
the  colonies.  The  war  with  Holland  ruined  these 
companies,  Colbert  then  tried  the  experiment  of  per- 
mitting all  the  French  merchants  to  carry  on  commerce 
with  the  colonies. 

The  administration  of  Colbert  contributed  to  the 
increase  of  manufactures,  and  to  the  activity  of  com- 
merce in  France. 

Colbert  restored  order  to  the  finances,  which  the 
great  expenditure  by  Richelieu  and  by  Mazarin  had 
disturbed.  He  was  able  to  reduce  the  villein  tax, 
which  weighed  especially  on  the  peasantry,  from 
53,000,000  livres  to  38,000,000.  He  diminished  the 
State  debt,  and  the  debts  of  the  cities.  He  abolished 
the  customs  in  all  the  central  provinces. 

However,  he  could  not  make  any  great  reform  in 
the  organization  of  the  imposts — and  of  the  budget ;  he 


FRANCE  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  417 

preserved  the  system  as  he  had  found  it,  and  after  his 
death,  the  abuses  were  renewed.  Louis  XIV.  needed 
enormous  sums  for  his  buildings  and  for  his  wars. 
These  sums  the  people  could  not  furnish  without  be- 
coming bankrupt. 

Louvois. — The  French  army  had  become  disorgan- 
ized during  the  long  wars,  and  through  the  Fronde. 
Letellier  and  his  son  Louvois,  who  succeeded  each 
other  as  Secretaries  of  War,  tried  to  restore  the  mili- 
tary strength.  They  made  no  great  general  reform. 
Their  work  consisted  in  a  great  number  of  rules  in 
detail,  made  for  the  most  part  in  the  years  1668, 
1675,    1680. 

In  France,  as  in  the  other  European  countries,  there 
was  no  really  permanent  army ;  a  few  regiments  only 
remained  under  arms  in  time  of  peace.  When  war 
began,  the  government  dealt  with  colonels  or  captains, 
who  took  it  upon  themselves  to  enroll,  arm,  equip, 
and  support  a  regiment  or  a  company.  The  State 
paid  them  the  money  which  they  were  to  give  to  their 
men.  To  raise  a  regiment  was  an  operation  similar 
to  a  labor  contract.  These  army  contractors  were  in- 
terested in  spending  as  little  as  possible;  they  let  the 
soldier  live  at  the  expense  of  the  country  where  they 
were  carrying  on  the  war,  and  furnished  him  none  of 
the  things  that  he  needed.  In  order  to  lessen  the  ex- 
pense they  sought  to  have  as  few  soldiers  as  possible 
under  arms.  To  prevent  the  inspectors  from  discover- 
ing the  fraud,  the  officers,  on  the  days  of  review,  were 
accustomed  to  fill  up  the  regiments  with  people  dressed 
as  soldiers  (and  called  passc-z'olants).  They  profited 
by    the    first    combat    in    which    the    regiment    was 


418  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

engaged,  to  count  as  dead  all  the  soldiers  that  were 
lacking  on  the  roster. 

Louvois  wished  to  put  the  army  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  government.  He  could  not  suppress  the 
custom  of  giving,  and  even  of  selling  brevets;  nor 
could  he  take  away  from  the  officers  the  right  them- 
selves to  form  companies.  But  he  exacted  that  every 
officer  should  do  regular  duty,  and  that  every  regiment 
should  be  complete.  He  also  put  war  commissioners 
in  surveillance  of  the  army. 

He  wished  that  the  troops  should  always  be  in  con- 
dition to  take  the  field,  and  he  organized  a  perfect 
system  to  supply  them  with  provisions.  "The  admin- 
istration," said  he,  "cannot  be  improvised  like  a  vic- 
tory." He  established  military  stores  in  the  frontier 
provinces,  organized  the  forage  routes  through  which 
the  soldiers  had  to  pass.  At  each  stop  they  were 
lodged  in  the  house  of  some  inhabitant,  who  was  to 
furnish  them  with  fire,  light,  and  a  sum  of  five  pounds 
a  day  for  each  company.  This  was  called  indemnity. 
He  established  hospitals  and  ambulances.  He  per- 
suaded the  king  to  build  the  Hotel  des  Invalides  for 
wounded  and  infirm  soldiers. 

Louvois  was  before  all  things  else  an  administrator. 
He  was  the  creator  of  the  commissary  department. 

This  regular  system  permitted  a  large  army  to 
be  kept  permanently  on  a  war  footing.  Under  the 
reign  of  Louis  XIV.  armies  ready  for  action  became 
much  more  numerous,  and  when  peace  was  signed 
the  regiments  preserved  their  organizations.  The  ist 
of  January,  1678,  the  military  force  numbered  219,- 
000  foot,  47,000  cavalry,  and  9,800  dragoons. 


FRANCE  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  419 


THE    SCIENCES,    LITERATURE,    AND    THE 

ARTS 

Progress  of  the  Sciences — In  all  the  countries  of 
Europe,  from  the  sixteenth  century  there  have  been 
men  who  were  occupied  in  studying  science.  Some 
(Bacon,  Descartes,  Newton)  were  gentlemen,  or  rich 
bourgeois,  who  were  able  to  devote  their  time  to  dis- 
interested study.  The  larger  number  were  professors 
in  some  university,  or  the  pensioners  of  some  prince. 
Almost  all  were  laymen ;  since  the  end  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  the  clergy  have  produced  few  distinguished 
savants. 

A  revolution  in  the  manner  of  comprehending  sci- 
ence took  place  in  the  sixteenth  century.  In  the 
Middle  Ages  science  was  sought  for  in  the  ancient 
books ;  to  be  a  savant,  meant  to  know  what  the  mas- 
ters had  written :  Galen  in  medicine,  Aristotle  in 
philosophy,  Ptolemy  in  astronomy.  From  the  time  of 
the  Renaissance  people  became  gradually  accustomed 
to  the  idea  that  the  only  way  to  know  things  was  to 
look  at  them ;  science  was  constituted  through  observa- 
tion of  phenomena.  The  savants  were  less  occupied 
with  learning  what  had  been  said  before  them  than 
with  studying  what  they  could  see  for  themselves. 
They  began  to  experiment,  to  weigh,  to  dissect,  to 
collect.  There  were  invented  in  Holland  two  kinds 
of  instruments,  which  greatly  increased  the  field  of 
observation:  the  microscope  (1590)  showed  objects 
too  small,  the  telescope  (1609)  objects  too  far  away 
to  be  seen  with  the  naked  eye. 


420  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

The  savants  constructed  apparatus  which  permit  the 
production  of  phenomena  at  the  will  of  the  operator, 
as  well  as  to  observe  and  measure  them,  the  barometer, 
the  thermometer,  pneumatic  machines,  and  electric 
machines. 

In  order  to  communicate  to  each  other  the  results 
of  their  labors,  their  observations,  and  their  theories, 
books  were  no  longer  sufficient;  societies  of  learned 
men  were  founded  after  the  example  of  the  literary 
academies  of  the  Renaissance.  These  societies  held 
their  sittings  regularly,  and  printed  a  detailed  account 
of  their  discussions.  The  most  celebrated  are  the 
Royal  Society  in  London,  founded  in  1665  '■>  tne  Acad- 
emy of  Sciences  in  Paris,  founded  under  Louis  XIV., 
and  the  Academy  of  Berlin,  created  by  Frederic  II. 

Astronomy. — Until  the  end  of  the  Middle  Ages  the 
system  of  Ptolemy  was  taught  in  all  the  schools, 
Christian  as  well  as  Arab;  the  earth  is  immovable  in 
the  centre  of  the  universe,  and  the  fixed  stars  and  the 
seven  planets,  including  the  sun  and  moon,  revolve 
around  it.  In  the  sixteenth  century  the  great  astrono- 
mers began  to  overthrow  this  theory.  A  Polish  canon, 
Copernicus,  discovered  that  the  earth  is  itself  a  planet 
revolving  around  the  sun;  he  died  about  1543.  His 
book  on  the  "Revolutions  of  the  Heavenly  Bodies," 
which  he  had  dedicated  to  the  pope,  appeared  about 
the  same  time.  A  German  professor,  Kepler,  formu- 
lated the  laws  which  govern  the  planets  in  their  move- 
ments around  the  sun.  An  Italian  professor.  Galileo, 
added  that  the  earth  made  a  revolution  on  itself  once 
in  twenty-four  hours.  Towards  the  end  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  astronomy  was  definitely  constituted  by 


FRANCE  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  421 

an  Englishman,  Newton,  who  gave  out  the  formula 
of  the  gravitation  of  bodies. 

These  new  theories  had  at  first  an  unfriendly  re- 
ception; they  contradicted  the  Ptolemaic  system,  hon- 
ored by  tradition;  they  shocked  common  sense,  which 
is  rarely  in  accord  with  science.  The  professors  in 
the  universities  refused  to  accept  them.  The  Inquisi- 
tion forbade  the  teaching  of  the  Copernican  theory, 
and  ordered  that  the  passages  in  his  books,  where  he 
advocated  it,  should  be  suppressed.  It  declared  that 
the  opinion  of  the  daily  revolution  of  the  earth,  and  its 
revolution  around  the  sun,  was  an  absurd  and  heretical 
opinion  (1616).  Galileo  was  cited  to  appear  before 
Cardinal  Bellarmino,  and  was  ordered  to  renounce  his 
theory.  He  then  wrote  a  book  in  the  form  of  a 
dialogue  between  three  interlocutors ;  one  explained 
the  theory  of  Ptolemy,  another  the  doctrine  of  Coper- 
nicus, and  the  third  summed  up  the  debate,  without 
making  any  decision.  It  was  manifest  that  Galileo's 
preference  was  for  the  second  theory.  The  Inquisi- 
tion had  him  appear  at  Rome,  condemned  him 
(1632)  to  retract  his  theories  and  as  an  expiation 
for  his  disobedience  he  was  ordered  to  repeat  the 
seven  penitential  psalms  once  a  week  for  three  years, 
and  he  was  kept  under  strict  surveillance  until  his 
death. 

Mathematics. — Elementary  arithmetic, geometry  and 
algebra  had  been  in  use  at  the  close  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  The  mathematicians  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, Viete,  Descartes,  Leibnitz  created  analytical 
geometry,  differential  and  integral  calculus  (the  higher 
mathematics). 


422  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

Physics — The  physics  of  the  Middle  Ages  consisted 
in  hardly  anything  but  several  propositions  of  Archi- 
medes. They  were  entangled  with  the  theories  of 
Aristotle,  which  were  rehearsed,  instead  of  studied. 
The  Italian  savants  began  the  formulation  of  the  laws 
of  physics.  Galileo  discovered  the  law  which  governs 
the  fall  of  a  body;  he  was  at  that  time  a  professor 
at  the  University  of  Pisa,  and  was  obliged  to  leave 
the  town  because  he  had  demonstrated  that  bodies  fell 
in  a  manner  quite  otherwise  from  what  Aristotle  had 
said.  Torricelli  invented  the  barometer.  Until  that 
time  it  was  believed  that  water  rose  in  pumps,  be- 
cause "nature  abhors  a  vacuum."  Torricelli  discov- 
ered the  pressure  of  air.  The  theory  of  Newton  on 
the  law  of  gravitation  perfected  the  formulation  of  the 
science  of  gravity. 

Anatomy  and  Physiology. — Early  in  the  sixteenth 
century  some  scientists  had  practised  the  dissection  of 
the  human  body,  and  had  created  the  science  of  human 
anatomy.  The  founder  was  a  Belgian,  Vesalius,  phy- 
sician to  the  King  of  Spain,  author  of  a  book  on  the 
"Construction  of  the  Human  Body,"  which  appeared 
in  1543.  The  Spanish  Inquisition  condemned  Vesalius 
to  death,  and  commuted  the  penalty  to  a  pilgrimage 
to  the  Holy  Sepulchre;  he  perished  in  a  shipwreck 
while  on  his  return  from  the  Holy  Land.  During  the 
century  some  Italian  savants  completed  the  description 
of  the  human  body.  The  more  difficult  study  of  the 
functions  of  the  body,  physiology,  did  not  become 
a  science  until  in  the  seventeenth  century  after  the 
Englishman,  Harvey,  had  discovered  the  circulation 
of  the  blood.     Near  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 


FRANCE  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  423 

tury,  Swammerdam  invented  the  art  of  injecting  a 
colored  solution  which  makes  the  smallest  duct  visi- 
ble. The  observations  made  with  the  microscope  have 
greatly  advanced  the  knowledge  of  physiology.  But 
the  science  of  tissues,  histology,  was  not  constituted 
until  our  day.  The  progress  in  anatomy,  and  in  phys- 
iology, were  of  great  benefit  to  the  science  of  medi- 
cine, but  were  only  of  profit  after  some  time.  The 
physicians  came  from  the  universities  where  they 
persistently  taught  the  doctrines  of  Galen.  They  had 
neither  dissected  a  body,  nor  studied  its  anatomy,  and 
believed  that  they  were  maintaining  the  dignity  of 
their  corporation  by  the  employment  of  the  ancient 
remedies :  by  bleeding,  and  the  use  of  purgatives  and 
pills.  It  was  only  in  the  eighteenth  century  that 
they  finally  resolved  to  study  the  effect  of  maladies 
on  the  sick,  and  that  clinics  were  founded  in  the 
hospitals. 

Philosophy. — The  philosophers  of  the  Renaissance 
still  admired  the  ancients  too  much  to  dare  to  think 
for  themselves ;  they  reproduced  the  doctrines  of  Plato 
especially,  by  way  of  opposition  to  the  theories  of 
Aristotle,  which  were  taught  in  the  schools.  Modern 
philosophy  dates  from  the  seventeenth  century.  It 
was  created  by  an  Englishman,  Bacon;  a  Frenchman, 
Descartes ;  a  German,  Leibnitz,  and  by  a  Dutch  Jew, 
Spinoza.  The  philosophy  of  the  seventeenth  century 
was  an  impartial  study ;  the  philosophers  no  longer  held 
the  sayings  of  the  ancients  in  such  respect  as  did  the 
scholastics.  Descartes  starts  out  from  the  principle  that 
one  should  believe  only  what  appeared  certain.  They 
sought   through   reflection  and   observation   to  grasp 


424  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

the  laws  of  thought,  and  to  construct  a  system  which 
would  render  the  world  intelligible,  and  which  would 
explain  the  relation  of  thought  to  matter.  But  they 
did  not  combat  religion;  almost  all  had  studied  the- 
ology; some  of  them  (Gassendi  and  Malebranche) 
were  priests;  all  admitted  the  existence  of  a  soul  dis- 
tinct from  the  body.  They  did  not  dream  of  changing 
the  government,  and  mingled  little  in  the  society  of 
the  time.  Descartes  composed  his  "Discourse  on 
Method,"  while  he  was  shut  up  in  his  room  in  Hol- 
land; returning  to  France  he  hid  himself  so  that  he 
might  escape  being  disturbed  by  visitors.  Spinoza,  so 
as  to  be  independent,  gained  his  livelihood  by  polish- 
ing spectacle  lenses,  and  lived  modestly  in  a  humble 
bourgeois  family.  A  part  of  his  philosophical  works 
are  still  in  Latin  and  are  addressed  only  to  scholars. 

LETTERS 

The  Rise  of  Classic  Taste — The  literary  movement 
of  the  Renaissance  ended  in  Europe  about  the  middle 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  There  appeared  no  more 
great  writers  in  Spain,  nor  in  Italy,  nor  in  Germany. 
France,  only,  was  for  a  century  the  country  of  learn- 
ing. The  writers  of  that  period  had  a  totally  different 
conception  of  the  art  of  writing  from  those  of  the 
time  of  the  Renaissance.  They  neither  wrote  for  the 
learned  nor  for  the  common  people;  they  wrote  for 
society;  for  those  whom  they  called  well-bred  people, 
and  it  was  the  well-bred  company  gathered  in  the 
salons  which  decided  upon  the  value  of  the  works. 
The  salons  were  set  up  in  France  during  the  reign  of 


FRANCE  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  425 

Louis  XIII. ;  manners  and  language  had  been  rude  at 
first ;  the  nobles  brought  with  them  the  customs  of  the 
soldier;  little  by  little  the  ladies  brought  about  a 
change  in  the  general  tone,  and  introduced  the  custom 
of  speaking  politely,  and  in  choice  terms.  The  Mar- 
quise de  Rambouillet  set  the  example,  by  holding  in 
her  own  mansion  regular  reunions  where  questions  of 
literature  and  morals  were  discussed.  The  employ- 
ment of  trivial  expressions  was  forbidden;  the  ladies 
called  themselves  "Precieuses."  They  sought  to  purify 
the  language,  and  were  aided  in  their  work  by  the 
grammarians,  and  by  the  Academy.  The  French 
language  at  that  time  was  composed  of  many  words 
and  turns  of  phrase,  which  had  their  origin  in  the 
French  of  the  Middle  Ages;  others  had  been  drawn 
from  the  Greek  or  Latin  by  the  men  of  the  Renais- 
sance. The  grammarians  and  the  "Precieuses"  pro- 
scribed a  great  many  expressions  on  account  of  their 
coarseness,  or  their  provincialism  and  many  new  words 
taken  from  the  Latin,  because  they  were  too  pedantic. 
They  endeavored  to  "follow  good  usage,"  that  is,  to 
employ  only  such  words  as  were  used  in  the  best  cir- 
cles in  Paris.  "It  is  far  better,"  said  Vaugelas,  "to 
consult  the  women,  and  those  who  have  not  studied, 
than  to  counsel  with  those  who  are  learned  in  Greek 
and  Latin."  The  French  language  thus  purified,  be- 
came the  language  of  the  court,  and  of  the  salon, 
which  every  one  must  speak  if  one  wished  to  be  con- 
sidered educated,  and  well-bred.  "One  word  amiss 
is  sufficient  to  make  one  scorned  in  society."  "To 
speak  well  is  one  of  the  forms  required  by  good  breed- 
ing."    In  order  to  fix  rules  for  the  language,  Riche- 


426  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

lieu  founded  the  French  Academy ;  to  edit  a  dictionary 
of  the  French  language  is  its  especial  charge. 

"This  small  band  called  good  society  is  the  flower 
of  the  human  race,"  said  Voltaire.  "It  is  for  them 
that  the  greatest  men  have  labored."  "It  is  the  taste 
of  the  court  that  should  be  studied,"  said  Moliere. 
"There  is  no  place  where  decisions  can  be  more  just." 
This  taste  which  was  imposed  on  all  writers,  is  called 
the  classic  taste.  It  consists  in  expressing  only  ideas 
that  can  be  easily  understood,  and  expressing  them  in 
terms  clear,  precise,  and  elegant,  setting  them  forth 
in  perfect  order,  taking  care  to  employ  no  popular 
expression,  neither  a  term  of  science,  trade,  or  of  the 
household;  in  one  word,  sparing  the  reader  every- 
thing which  may  demand  an  effort  of  the  mind,  or 
which  may  shock  the  proprieties.  Literature  became 
the  art  of  making  fine  discourses;  it  was  oratorical 
rather  than  poetic.  Its  dominant  quality  was  per- 
fection. 

The  most  glorious  period  in  this  classic  literature 
was  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century.  All 
forms  of  literature  are  represented :  tragedy,  comedy, 
fables,  criticism,  oratory,  fiction,  moral  philosophy. 
We  owe  to  Voltaire  our  custom  of  calling  this  period 
the  century  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  even  of  attributing 
part  of  its  merit  to  the  king.  In  fact,  many  of  the 
great  writers  were  developed  in  the  reign  of  Louis 
XIII.  or  during  the  minority  of  Louis  XIV.  (Des- 
cartes, Pascal,  Corneille).  Those  still  had  some  of 
the  qualities  which  are  characteristic  of  the  Renais- 
sance. The  classic  taste  was  dominant  during  the 
second    half   of    the    seventeenth    and    during   all    of 


FRANCE  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  427 

the  eighteenth  century.  The  rule  of  employing  only 
noble  words  and  dignified  expressions  became  more 
and  more  strict.  Racine  did  not  permit  himself  to 
use  the  word  "dog"  in  his  letters  to  Boileau.  In  the 
eighteenth  century  the  poets  no  longer  called  any 
thing  or  object  by  its  name,  but  obliged  themselves  to 
use  circumlocution. 

The  Theatre. — Beginning  with  the  end  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  companies  of  actors  had  been  formed 
in  imitation  of  the  custom  in  Italy;  they  went  from 
city  to  city,  leading  a  wandering  life,  which  Scarron 
describes  in  "Le  Roman  comique."  A  company  set- 
tled down  in  Paris  and  played  at  the  Hotel  de  Bour- 
goyne.  This  theatre  was  miserably  arranged;  part 
of  the  audience  remained  standing  in  the  parquet, 
the  stage  was  small,  and  the  young  noblemen  seated 
on  stools  along  the  sides  took  up  a  large  part 
of  it;  there  was  neither  decoration  nor  machinery. 
It  was  under  such  conditions  that  the  masterpieces 
of  the  seventeenth  century  were  brought  before  the 
public. 

Tragedies  and  comedies  were  played.  The  sub- 
jects of  the  tragedies  were  borrowed  from  Greek  and 
Roman  history.  Racine  showed  great  temerity  in 
his  daring  attempt  to  put  Turks  on  the  stage  in  a 
representation  of  Bajazet ;  but  the  classic  writers 
troubled  themselves  as  little  about  local  color,  as  did 
the  painters  of  the  Renaissance ;  they  represented  their 
Greek  and  Roman  heroes,  with  the  noble  manners,  and 
as  speaking  the  chosen  language,  of  the  lords  and 
ladies  of  the  court.  The  actors  representing  Augustus 
and  Achilles,  played  the  roles  in  perruke  and  in  the  cos- 


428  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

tume  worn  at  court.  However,  out  of  respect  for  the 
ancients,  the  authors  were  constrained  to  adopt  the 
forms  of  the  Greek  drama.  Their  plays  are  in  verse, 
divided  into  five  acts,  and  subject  to  the  "rule  of  the 
three  unities,"  which  is  attributed  to  Aristotle.  They 
imposed  new  restrictions  upon  themselves ;  they  repre- 
sented neither  battle  nor  death.  All  the  events  which 
set  forth  the  intrigue  are  related  by  the  characters; 
the  whole  drama  is  a  discourse. 

Oratory — All  important  affairs  in  French  society 
were  decided  upon  in  secret,  in  the  cabinet  of  the  king, 
or  in  the  halls  of  the  Parliament.  Therefore  there  was 
no  oratory  in  politics  nor  on  the  bench.  The  orators 
of  the  seventeenth  century  were  all  preachers.  Every 
year  during  Advent  and  Lent  the  court  was  present  at 
a  series  of  sermons.  It  was  the  custom  to  pronounce 
an  oration  at  the  obsequies  of  distinguished  persons. 
These  sermons  and  funeral  orations  are  still  consid- 
ered as  masterpieces  of  pulpit  eloquence. 

Fiction. — Good  society  was  no  longer  interested  in 
the  adventures  of  the  knights,  who  were  the  heroes 
of  the  romances  of  the  Middle  Ages.  During  the 
reign  of  Louis  XIII.  it  became  enamored  of  the 
pastoral  romance  of  d'  Urfe,  where  the  heroes  are  shep- 
herds. Under  Louis  XIV.  the  romance  was  trans- 
formed; it  relates  the  adventures  and  describes  the 
manners  of  the  time  at  which  the  author  lives.  The 
romance  has  great  variety;  it  can  represent  all  classes 
of  society.  In  the  "Roman  comique"  of  Scarron,  the 
heroes  are  comedians;  in  the  "Princesse  de  Cleves," 
they  are  princes,  and  in  "Gil  Bias"  they  are  adven- 
turers. 


FRANCE  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  429 

The  French  Influence. — The  classic  form  created  by 
the  French  writers  was  welcomed  with  admiration 
everywhere,  in  the  courts  and  in  the  salons.  England 
excepted,  no  country  had  at  that  time  produced  any 
original  work.  French  literature  became  the  universal 
literature.  French  became  the  language  of  good 
society  everywhere.  It  is  the  official  and  diplomatic 
tongue,  and  all  governments  employ  it  in  drawing  up 
their  treaties. 

At  this  time  it  became  the  fashion  to  teach  French 
to  the  children  of  good  families,  to  play  French  plays, 
and  even  to  speak  the  language  in  the  salons.  In  Ger- 
many the  mania  went  to  the  greatest  extreme.  The 
princes  and  courtiers  no  longer  knew  how  to  speak 
German.  They  considered  it  a  sort  of  "patois,"  good 
enough  for  workmen,  and  for  the  peasants.  The  King 
of  Prussia  wrote  his  books  in  French;  Maria  Therese 
corresponded  with  her  ministers  in  French,  and  at  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  Berlin  Academy  gave 
as  a  subject  for  discussion  in  a  competitive  examina- 
tion: "Explain  the  pre-eminence  of  the  French  lan- 
guage." 

THE   ARTS 

Painting. — The  art  characteristic  of  the  painters  of 
the  Renaissance  continued  through  the  first  two-thirds 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  At  the  close  of  the  cen- 
tury the  movement  was  arrested ;  the  artists  ceased  to 
study  nature,  and  produced  hardly  any  works  which 
were  not  stiff  and  affected.  In  most  countries  not 
one  painter  of  talent  could  be  found.  It  was  the 
French  painters  who  lead  in  all  this  period.     Those 


430  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  decorators  like  Lebrun, 
or  portrait-painters  like  Mignard.  i 

Sculpture. — From  the  close  of  the  Renaissance  the 
sculptors  departed  farther  and  farther  from  the  sys- 
tem of  the  antique.  They  tried  to  rival  the  painters 
in  representing  animated  scenes  and  in  giving  move- 
ment and  expression  to  figures.  Their  works  were 
intended  to  be  used  for  the  ornamentation  of  the 
churches,  and  the  palaces  and  gardens  of  the  great 
lords.  The  most  renowned  sculptor  of  this  epoch  was 
Puget,  a  Frenchman  from  Marseilles. 

Architecture — The  architects  had  churches  and 
palaces  to  build.  The  churches  were  usually  like 
Saint  Peter's  at  Rome :  surmounted  by  a  dome,  and 
ornamented  in  the  interior  with  flat  columns.  The 
facade  was  crowned  with  a  pediment,  but  the  pediment 
instead  of  being  at  the  summit  of  the  edifice,  as  in 
the  Greek  temples,  was  nothing  more  than  a  wall 
ornamented  with  festoons  or  garlands;  it  only  served 
as  a  decoration.  This  is  called  the  Jesuit  style.  The 
palaces  constructed  in  the  Italian  style  are  formed  of 
long  buildings  intersecting  each  other  at  right  angles. 
In  order  to  give  them  a  noble  air  the  facades  were 
straight  and  without  ornamentation. 

Gardens. — A  new  art  grew  up  in  Italy  in  the  six- 
teenth century:  the  art  of  making  beautiful  gardens. 
Every  palace  had  to  have  its  garden ;  the  trees  and  the 
buildings  were  disposed  in  such  a  fashion  so  as  to 
form  a  harmonious  ensemble. 

The  Italian  mode  perfected  in  France  consisted  in 
looking  upon  the  garden  as  a  prolongation  of  the  edi- 
fice.    All  the  alleys  and  paths  had  geometrical  forms, 


FRANCE  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  431 

were  in  straight  lines  or  in  circles.  The  ground  was 
levelled  and  held  by  terraces.  The  trees  were  trimmed 
into  shapes,  and  those  were  preferred  which  could 
be  trimmed  straight  like  walls :  yoke  elms,  yew,  box- 
wood. Sometimes  they  found  amusement  in  cutting 
the  tree  into  the  form  of  a  square,  a  ball,  or  even  of 
some  animal.  Water  brought  from  a  distance,  gushed 
forth  in  jets  of  spray  which  fell  back  into  basins  of 
stone  or  of  marble.  In  the  Italian  gardens  these  jets 
of  water  were  often  set  in  motion  by  a  spring  con- 
cealed under  a  seat;  the  visitor  on  sitting  down  re- 
leased the  spring,  and  in  a  moment  found  himself 
drenched  by  the  falling  spray.  The  alleys  and  the 
fountains  were  decorated  with  statues  representing 
nymphs,  fawns  or  streams.  Such  is  the  French  style 
of  garden.  All  is  artificial  there;  it  is  a  construction 
made  of  trees  and  water,  a  salon  in  the  open  air.  It 
was  the  desire  to  give  to  those  who  walked  there  the 
impression  of  an  art  dominating  nature. 

Music — The  musical  instruments  which  we  employ 
had  been  already  invented  or  introduced  into  Europe 
by  the  close  of  the  Renaissance.  Ever  since  the  six- 
teenth century  the  princes  had  had  orchestras  of  musi- 
cians, which  played  in  their  chapels  and  at  their 
ceremonies.  In  Germany  an  orchestra  is  still  called 
Kapelle,  and  the  leader  is  the  Kapellmeister.  Ever 
since  the  invention  of  printing,  pieces  of  music  had 
been  scattered  among  the  people.  Composers  were 
numerous  in  France,  Germany,  and  in  England,  and 
the  theory  of  music  had  already  begun  to  make  its 
way,  but  there  were  only  detached  pieces,  dances, 
masses  and  hymns. 


432  MODERN    CIVILIZATION 

In  the  seventeenth  century  were  created  the  forms  in 
which  pieces  of  music  were  going  to  be  henceforth 
embodied :  the  opera,  and  the  oratorio ;  both  origi- 
nated in  Italy,  and  in  the  same  year  (1600).  That 
year,  at  Florence,  at  the  festivities  for  the  marriage  of 
Maria  de'  Medici  and  Henry  IV.  a  piece  of  music  was 
represented,  which  was  called  a  tragedy  in  music.1 
This  was  the  first  opera.  At  Rome  Saint  Philip  de 
Neri  had  a  sacred  drama  accompanied  by  a  recitative 
in  music  given  at  the  church  of  the  Oratoire.  This 
was  the  first  oratorio.  Italy  was  regarded  from  that 
time  as  the  country  of  music,  and  until  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  it  was  the  fashion  at  all  the  courts, 
even  in  Germany,  to  have  an  orchestra  of  Italian 
musicians. 

The  opera  was  soon  altered  in  Italy.  The  amateurs 
(dilettanti)  were  more  interested  in  the  voice  of  the 
singer  than  in  the  drama,  or  even  in  the  music.  In 
order  to  please  them,  it  was  necessary  to  reduce  the 
opera  to  a  succession  of  airs  sung  as  solos  or  as  duos. 
It  was  simply  a  question  of  giving  an  opportunity  to 
the  virtuoso2  (for  so  the  singer  in  vogue  was  called) 
to  show  off  his  fine  voice,  and  his  skill  in  using  that 
organ;  during  this  time  the  orchestra  ceased  playing, 
and  all  action  was  stopped.  The  piece  was  but  a  can- 
vas intended  to  furnish  words  to  the  singer ;  the  book- 
let, as  it  was  called  was  regarded  as  a  property  of  the 
piece.  It  was  composed  by  a  librettist  in  the  pay  of 
the  director.     The  Italian  composers  have  kept,  down 

1  Orpheus  and  Eurydice,  where  each  character  sang  his  role. 

2  The  word  virtuoso  has  kept  the  meaning  of  one  who  seeks 
out  useless  difficulties. 


FRANCE  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  433 

to  our  time,  this  scorn  for  the  drama.  In  the  eigh- 
teenth century  they  went  so  far  as  to  make  up  operas 
with  pieces  of  music  taken  here  and  there.  The  Ital- 
ian music  was  preserved  only  in  opera  buffa,  composed 
to  comic  speeches. 

The  opera  was  perfected  in  France  and  in  Germany. 
In  1669  Louis  XIV.  granted  to  two  managers  per- 
mission to  establish  in  Paris  an  academy,  in  order  to 
represent  there  and  sing  in  public,  operas  and  musical 
dramas  in  French  verse  like  those  in  Italy.  The  first 
French  opera,  "Cadmus  and  Hermione,"  was  played 
in  1673. 


APPENDIX 


REFERENCES  FOR  SUPPLEMENTARY  READING 

This  list  contains  the  titles  of  books  suitable  for  reference  or 
for  further  reading.  Those  which  are  recommended  especially 
for  Secondary  schools  are  marked  *.  For  references  to  authori- 
ties in  the  German  and  French  languages  special  bibliographies 
may  be  consulted. 

Original  Sources — 

Adams,  G.  B.,  and  H.  M.  Stephens:  Select  Documents  of  Eng- 
lish Constitutional  History.     Macmillan. 

Archer,  T.  A. :  Crusade  of  Richard  I.     Putnams. 

♦Arnold:  The  Little  Flowers  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi.     Dent. 

Cox,  George  W.,  and  Eustace  Hinton  Jones :  Popular  Romances 
of  the  Middle  Ages.     Holt. 

Chronicles  of  the  Crusades.     Bell. 

Dante,  The  Divine  Comedy.     Translation  by  Norton  or  Long- 
fellow.    Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co. 

♦Eginhard  (Einhard) :  Life  of  Charlemagne.     American  Book 
Company. 

♦Fling,  F.  M. :  Monasticism.     Ainsworth. 

Froude,  J.  A.:    Life  and  Letters  of  Erasmus.     Scribners. 

♦Henderson,  E.  F.:  Historical  Documents  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Macmillan. 

♦Henderson,  E.  F. :  Side-lights  on  English  History.     Holt. 

♦Hill,  Mabel:   Liberty  Documents.     Longmans. 

Jones,  Guernsey:  Civilization  during  the  Middle  Ages.     Ains- 
worth. 

♦Kendall,  E.  K. :  Source  Book  of  English  History.    Macmillan. 

Lane-Poole,  Stanley :  Speeches  and  Table  Talk  of  the  Prophet 
Mohammed.     Macmillan. 

Lanier:  Boys'  Froissart.     Scribners. 

Lee,  G.  C. :  Source  Book  of  English  History.     Holt. 

Luther,  Martin :  Table  Talk.     Bohn. 

Machiavelli,  Niccolo:   The  Prince.     Bohn. 

♦Munro,    D.   C,   and  G.   C.   Sellery:    Mediaeval  Civilization. 
Century. 

♦Pennsylvania  Translations  and  Reprints  from  the  Original 
Sources  of  European  History.      Longmans. 
Life  of  St.  Columban.     Vol  II.,  No.  7. 
Monastic  Tales  of  the  Thirteenth  Century.    Vol.  II.,  No.  4. 

435 


436  APPENDIX 

England  in  the  Time  of  Wycliffe.     Vol.  II.,  No.  5. 

Period  of  the  Early   Reformation  in  Germany.   Vol.   II., 
No.  6. 

Period  of  the  Later  Reformation.     Vol.  III.,  No.  3. 

The  Early  Christian  Persecutions.     Vol.  IV.,  No.  1. 

Ordeals,  Compurgation,  Excommunication.    Vol.  IV.,  No.  4. 

The  Early  Germans.     Vol.  VI.,  No.  3. 
♦Robinson,  J.  H.:  Readings  in  European  History.    2  v.    Ginn. 
Robinson,  J.  H.  andRolfe:  Petrarch.     Putnams. 
Smith,  Justin  H. :  The  Troubadours  at  Home.    2  v.    Putnams. 
♦Thatcher,  O.  J.,  and  E.  H.  McNeal:  Source  Book  of  Mediaeval 

History.     Scribners. 

Secondary  Authorities — 

♦Adams,  G.  B. :  Civilization  during  the  Middle  Ages  Scribners. 

♦Adams,  G.  B. :   Growth  of  the  French  Nation.     Macmillan. 

Alzog,  J. :   Universal  Church  History.     3  v.     Clarke. 

Archer,  T.  A.,  and  Kingsford,  C.  L. :  The  Crusades.  2  v. 
Putnams. 

Baird,  H.  M.:   Rise  of  the  Huguenots  of  France.     Scribners. 

Besant,  Walter:  Gaspard  de  Coligny.  American  Book  Com- 
pany. 

Bryce,  James:  The  Holy  Roman  Empire.     Macmillan. 

♦Bulfinch,  T. :   Age  of  Chivalry.     Lee  &  Shepard. 

Bury,  J.  B.:  History  of  the  Later  Roman  Empire.  2  v.  Mac- 
millan. 

Burckhardt,  J. :  The  Civilization  of  the  Renaissance  in  Italy. 
Macmillan. 

Cambridge  Modern  History :  The  Renaissance ;  The  Reforma- 
tion;  The  Wars  of  Religion.     Macmillan. 

♦Cheyney,  E.  P. :  Social  and  Industrial  History  of  England. 
Macmillan. 

Cheyney,  E.  P. :  The  European  Background  of  American 
History.     Harpers. 

Cunningham,  W. :  Western  Civilization.     Macmillan. 

Davis,  H.  W.  C. :  Charlemagne.     Putnams. 

Duruy,  Victor:  The  Middle  Ages.     Holt. 

Emerton,  Ephraim:   Erasmus.     Putnams. 

♦Firth,  C. :   Oliver  Cromwell.     Putnams. 

Fisher,  G.  P. :   History  of  the  Christian  Church.     Scribners. 

♦Fisher,  G.  P. :   The  Reformation.     Scribners. 

♦Fletcher,  C.  R.  L. :  Gustavus  Adolphus.     Putnams. 

♦Fiske,  John:  The  Discovery  of  America.  2  v.  Houghton, 
Mifflin  &  Co. 

Freeman,  E.  A.:  Short  History  of  the  Norman  Conquest. 
Oxford  Universitv  Press. 

Freeman,  E.  A.:   William  the  Conqueror.     Macmillan. 

♦Gardiner,  S.  R. :  Students'  History  of  England.      Longmans. 

♦Gardiner,  S.  R. :  School  Atlas  of  English  History.    Longmans. 

Gardiner,  S.  R.:  Thirty  Years'  War.     Scribners. 

Gardiner,  S.  R. :   Oliver  Cromwell.     Longmans. 

Gardiner,  S.  R. :  Puritan  Revolution.     Scribners. 


APPENDIX  437 

Gibbins,  H.  De  B.:    History  of  Commerce  in  Europe.     Mac- 

millan. 
Gibbon,   Edward:    Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

7  v.     Macmillan. 
Gilman,  Arthur:  The  Saracens.     Putnams. 
♦Green  J.    R. :    Short   History  of  the   English   People.      4  v. 

Harpers. 
Guizot,  F.  P.  G. :  Popular  History  of  France.     8  v.     Estes. 
Gummere,  F.  B. :  Germanic  Origins.     Scribners. 
Harrison,  Frederic:    William  the  Silent.     Macmillan. 
Hassall,  A. :  The  Balance  of  Power.     Europe  in  the  Eighteenth 

Century.      Macmillan. 
Hassall,  A. :    Louis  XIV.     Putnams. 
Hausser,  Ludwig :  The  Period  of  the  Reformation.     American 

Tract  Society. 
Henderson,  E.  F. :    Short  History  of  Germany.     2  v.     Mac- 
millan. 
♦Higginson,   T.   W.,  and  E.  Channing.     English  History  for 

Americans.      Longmans. 
♦Hodgkin,  Thomas:   Charles  the  Great.     Macmillan. 
Hutton,  W.  H.:   Philip  Augustus.     Macmillan. 
Jackson,  S.  M. :   Zwingli.     Putnams. 
Jacobs,  H.  E. :   Luther.     Putnams. 
Johnson,  A.  H. :  The  Normans  in  Europe.     Longmans. 
Kitchin,  G.  W. :  History  of  France.     3  v.     Oxford  University 

Press. 
K6stlin,  Julius:   Life  of  Luther.     Scribners. 
♦Labberton,  R.  H. :  Historical  Atlas.     Silver,  Burdett. 
Lane-Poole,  Stanley:   Saladin.     Putnams. 
♦Laurie,  William:    Rise  of  the  Universities.     Appletons. 
Lavisse,  E. :    Political  History  of  Europe.     Longmans. 
Lodge,  R. :   The  Close  of  the  Middle  Ages.     Macmillan. 
Macy,  Jesse:   The  English  Constitution.     Macmillan. 
♦Morrill,  W.  R. :    Story  of  Poland.     Putnams. 
♦Mornll,  W.  R. :   Story  of  Russia.     Putnams. 
Morison,  J.  C. :   St.  Bernard.     Macmillan. 
Motley,  J.  L. :    Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic.     3  v.      Harpers. 
Motley,    J.    L. :     History   of   the   United   Netherlands.     4    v. 

Harpers. 
♦Oliphant,  M.  0.  W. :  The  Makers  of  Florence.     Macmillan. 
♦Oliphant,  M.  O.  W. :  The  Makers  of  Venice.     Macmillan. 
♦Oman,  C.  W.  C:    The  Dark  Ages.      Macmillan. 
♦Parkman,  Francis:    La  Salle  and  the  Discovery  of  the  Great 

West.      Little,  Brown  &  Co. 
♦Parkman,     Francis:     Montcalm    and    Wolfe.      2  v.      Little, 

Brown  &  Co. 
♦Parkman,   Francis:    The  Jesuits  in  North  America.     Little, 

Brown  &  Co. 
Pastor,  Ludwig:    History  of  the  Popes.     6  v.      Herder. 
Payne,  E.  J.:    European  Colonies.      Macmillan. 
Perkins,  J.  B. :    Richelieu.      Putnams. 
Poole,  R.  L. :  Wycliffe  and  Movements  of  Reform.     Longmans 


438  APPENDIX 

Prescott,    W.   H. :    History  of  the   Reign  of  Ferdinand  and 

Isabella.     3  v.     Macmillan. 
Rambaud,  Alfred :  History  of  Russia.     3  v.     Estes. 
Seebohm,  F. :  The  Era  of  the  Protestant  Revolution.     Scrib- 

ners. 
Seebohm,  F. :  The  Oxford  Reformers.     Longmans. 
*Symonds,  J.  A.:  A  Short  History  of  the  Renaissance.     Holt. 
*Tout,  T,  F. :   The  Empire  and  the  Papacy.     Macmillan. 
Trench,  R.  C. :   Gustavus  Adolphus.     Macmillan. 
Tuttle,    Herbert;      History    of     Prussia.     4    v.     Houghton, 

Mifflin  &  Co. 
*Wakeman,  H.  O. :  The  Ascendency  of  France.     Macmillan. 
*  Walker,  W. :  The  Protestant  Reformation.     Scribners. 
*West,  A.  F. :   Alcuin  and  the  Rise  of  the  Christian  Schools. 

Scribners. 
Willert,  P.  F. :   Henry  of  Navarre.     Putnams. 


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